Before the Beginning: Year 5
by amorawolfe
Summary: Prequel told mostly from Lily's perspective during the dramatic action of her 5th year - how the friendship between Lily and Severus unraveled, and how relationships between Lily and the Marauders developed. Reviews are appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

**[Author's Note: I do not own anything Harry Potter related and such. I wrote this story about a year ago, and I'm finally uploading it. I've tried to keep it as canon as possible, and have spent far too long on the HP Lexicon site. 95% of the characters mentioned belong completely to JK Rowling. If you want, I can point out the ones I made up, but it'll be pretty clear, as you won't recognize the name and they will be side characters.**

**Anything else? I think that's it.**

**-Amora]**

The summer was nearly over and Lily Evans was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling in the early hours of the morning. She had woken up at four from a nightmare involving Dementors – terrifying, cloaked monsters that were literally capable of sucking souls and happiness into the abyss – and she could not for the life of her fall back asleep. With a sigh of exasperation at the fact that it was still only five, Lily threw her covers off, swung her legs over the edge of her bed, and resigned herself to getting dressed.

Lily walked over to her wardrobe and pulled the door open irritably. She stood staring at her clothes with her arms tightly crossed. Lily caught sight of the reflection in the mirror on the open wardrobe door; sprawled behind her on the floor were a great amount of very strange objects: spell books, a cauldron, crumpled bits of parchment, and a heavy trunk. On her desk there was even more parchment, some dishevelled quills, and a ten-and-a-quarter-inch long wand made from a willow tree.

Even though Lily had known about being a witch for five years, she was still shocked to wake up every morning and discover that it wasn't all a dream. Going to school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had awarded Lily with some of the best experiences of her life, not to mention some of the best people she had ever met. It was because of Hogwarts that Lily had become best friends with Severus Snape, a boy who lived not far from her, but who she had never met prior to discovering her magical abilities. In fact, he was the one that _told_ her about her magical abilities.

Lily smiled as she remembered the first time she met Severus, on the playground when she was nine years old. How her sister, Petunia, had scolded her for using magic to make a flower bloom, and scoffed at Severus's clothing when he emerged from the bushes to tell Lily that she was special.

However, upon entering school, the two friends did have their difficulties – partly due to the fact that they were placed in rival Hogwarts houses. Lily was in Gryffindor, the house known for bravery and leadership, while Severus was placed in Slytherin, a house which was by no exaggeration unpopular to the rest of the school. Slytherin was known for having students of an ambitious nature, and not even Lily could deny that the great majority of Slytherins were downright cruel, especially in regards to students of mixed blood.

But Severus was different. He himself was from a mixed family, his mother being a witch, while his father was a Muggle. Though, granted, he hated his father. But Severus never seemed to mind that Lily was a Muggle-born.

"It's only a matter of time until he turns on you," James Potter seemed to say a hundred times to Lily – in the common room, during class, at meals, wherever he stalked her. "It's part of a Slytherin's nature."

It was unheard of for anyone from the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses to be friends, but Lily could care less what the rest of the school said, especially James Potter. Lily scowled as she thought of him. He had a head bigger than the entirety of the Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award winners combined. He loved proving how skilled he was in magic by constantly cursing lesser skilled people, simply because he could. His gang didn't help things either. Sirius Black was almost as bad as James, and Peter Pettigrew encouraged the two of them as if they were gods. Even Remus Lupin, who Lily had become rather close friends with, didn't discourage James the way that she hoped he would. Remus may be the quiet one of the group, but Lily knew he was strong, and she was sure that if he actually tried he would be able to exert some control over his friends.

It wasn't that James, or even Sirius, were bad people. Down deep, Lily actually liked them –or at least didn't hate them. Over the years, they had developed a strange bond. It was more that James was such an annoying waste! He had so much talent, and he spent it by running wild through the halls. Why didn't he do something _useful_ with his brain?

Lily shook her head to rid the thoughts of the tall, messy haired boy in glasses. Instead, she focused on her own reflection. Dark, red hair sprouted from Lily's head and fell to her shoulders; at the moment it was extremely frazzled due to sleep. She looked longingly over at her wand and wished that she was of age, so she could simply tap her head and have her hair lie smooth and untangled, but she was only fifteen, and underage wizards and witches were not allowed to use magic outside of school.

Lily turned back to herself. Her favourite feature by far was her almond-shaped, bright green eyes. They were unique to Lily; no one in her immediate family had the same eye colour. The only other person in her family to have her eyes was her great-grandmother, who had died before Lily was born, and who she didn't really know anything about.

Lily looked out of the window at the sky, which was growing pinker by the minute. Severus was probably already awake and ready for the day. It was rare that he ever slept past five, but he wouldn't expect her at the playground until just before noon. Lily avoided going to Severus's house as much as she could. For a reason that she could not quite put her finger on, she felt uncomfortable there. It probably had something to do with the presiding gloom and tension that emanated from his parents, who were always in one argument or another.

Lily finished getting dressed, ran a brush through her hair, and went downstairs for an early breakfast. To her surprise, her dad was already sitting at the table, enjoying some toast and reading the paper. When Lily came into the kitchen, he looked up and smiled.

"You're up early."

"Morning, Dad," Lily said, grabbing a piece of toast.

"_Two_ owls came for you this morning," said her dad, pointing at the thick parchment envelopes sitting on the table. "You're a popular girl." Lily's father beamed. She could tell that he was smiling both out of pride for his daughter, the only witch in the family, and also for the fact that he managed to relieve two owls of letters without being attacked this time.

Lily added liberal amounts of strawberry jam to her toast and took the letters from her father eagerly. One was from Hogwarts, the usual letter informing her of the school books she would need for the fall. She opened it hastily, and along with the usual letter, a red and gold badge fell into her hand. "Yes!" Lily yelled, "Dad! I'm a prefect!"

"Congratulations, sweetheart!" said her dad, getting up and hugging her. "Your mother will be so excited!"

Smiling proudly at herself, Lily placed the badge happily on top of the Hogwarts letter and turned to pick up the second envelope, which was addressed to her in neat writing, which she recognized as Remus's. Pleasantly surprised, as she had not received a letter from Remus for over a month, Lily tore the heavy parchment envelope open.

_Lily,_

_Sorry I haven't written in a while. The last full moon was a rather harsh one, and it took a while to recover_.

Remus was a werewolf, a fact that Lily had discovered at the end of her first year, along with Remus's best friends: James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. It was actually the first act that brought her at all close to anything resembling friendship with the Marauders. She had helped them in their investigation to find out what was wrong with their friend.

Unfortunately, after that investigation, the self-named Marauders went back to treating Lily like any of their other victims. After an unfortunate incident involving her shampoo, Lily refused to speak a word to any Marauder for the rest of the year. Lily scowled at the memory and had to take a moment to remind herself that Remus was a much different boy now than he was then, and it had probably been Sirius's idea anyway, before turning back to the letter.

_Have you gone to Diagon Ally yet? I'm assuming not because I just barely got my Hogwarts letter, and we usually get them about the same time. I was wondering if you wanted to meet me there Wednesday at one? I'm not trying to lure you into anything, but the other Marauders will be there, too. You can bring Severus, if you'd like, though unfortunately I can't guarantee his safety._

_ If you can't, or don't want to, I completely understand, and I'll see you on September 1st!_

_Remus_

_P.S. I got my prefect badge! Am I right to assume we'll be patrolling the halls together?_

Lily looked at the letter and smiled, remembering how much she liked Remus. She hadn't made any plans with Severus yet, and she really did want to see Remus; she wouldn't even mind seeing Peter and Sirius, or even Potter. They were annoying, but always entertaining…

"One of the owls stayed behind, if you want to reply," said her dad, gesturing to an owl that Lily hadn't previously noticed, which was perched on the windowsill.

"Yeah, I'll be right back," Lily said, running out of the room. She dashed back up the stairs and into her bedroom, where she skidded to a halt at her desk, found a blank piece of parchment, and scribbled a short letter back to Remus.

_Remus,_

_ I'd love to meet you! And even the other three. I'll see you in the Leaky Cauldron at one._

_Lily_

_P.S. You are right to assume! Together, the castle shall be ours!_

Lily skipped back downstairs, tied the letter to the owl's leg, and sent it off out the window. "Oh!" said Lily suddenly, turning around and looking sheepishly at her father. "Erm, Dad? Would it be okay for me to go to London on Wednesday to meet some friends and buy my school stuff?"

Lily's father smirked, fully aware that the letter she just sent off was her already agreeing to do so. "I suppose so." Lily laughed and kissed her father on the cheek before leaving the kitchen again and going into the hall.

"Of course you can go to London with your weirdo friends, seeing as you're such a golden child." Lily's sister, Petunia, had apparently followed her down the stairs the second time and was listening in the hall.

"Why up so early, Tuney?" Lily retorted. "Don't you need your beauty sleep?"

The two sister stared daggers at each other. Petunia despised magic, and despised Lily for being able to perform it. Petunia pursed her lips over her horse-like teeth, threw her nose in the air, and stalked into the kitchen. Lily rolled her eyes. There was a time when Petunia would have given anything to go to Hogwarts.

Lily wandered back up the stairs, unsure of how to waste away the first hours of the morning. For a brief second she considered trying to go back to sleep, but she knew it would be useless. Once she was dressed, she suddenly became fully awake. Slumping into her desk chair, Lily pulled up a roll of parchment and a quill and began her last piece of summer homework, an essay for Transfiguration.

Two hours of procrastination, three hours of work, four feet of parchment (two for the rough draft, and two for the final copied over version), and two ink stains (she would fix that as soon as she got to Hogwarts) later, Lily rolled up her final essay, tossed it aside, and went downstairs.

"I'm going to go meet Severus, Dad. We'll be close by if you want me," Lily called over her shoulder into the living room as she grabbed a light jacket, slipped on her shoes, and walked out the door. It was still a bit early to go and meet him, but something told her that he would be waiting there anyway.

The air was crisp and cool, and Lily closed her eyes as the wind kissed her cheeks and ran its invisible fingers through her hair. She reached the playground where she first met Severus within minutes and sunk down onto one of the swings. Wrapping her arm around one of the chains, she twisted in the swing absentmindedly.

A hand appeared under Lily's nose, a head of a flower was sitting in the palm, the petals opening and closing off their own accord. It was a small, pretty piece of magic. The Ministry would not have even been able to track it.

"Sev! You old softy!" Lily laughed as she looked up and saw Severus, who had a slight grin on his face.

He sank down in the swing next to her. "I thought it was appropriate, seeing as this is the anniversary of when we met."

Lily hit her forehead with her palm, "It is? I completely forgot! Can you forgive me?" she smiled at him.

"Always," said Severus, a strange look coming over his face. He shook his head suddenly as if trying to shake off a fly. "Why are you here so early if you didn't remember?"

Lily shrugged. She didn't want to relive her dream just yet. She started to pump her legs, swinging herself high, but not as high as the day she discovered she was a witch. Severus slouched on his swing. "It's almost impossible to believe that it's been, what? Five years?"

"Six," Severus corrected.

Lily let her legs hang freely, and eventually her swing came to a rest next to Severus.

"We should do something special," said Lily, a glint in her eye. "Go out to lunch or something." Severus's lip curled slightly, and Lily laughed. "Sev, you have to get over your fear of public Muggle places eventually."

"I don't have a fear," Severus protested. "I just feel out of place."

Lily rolled her eyes and laughed. She didn't see Severus look away in embarrassment.

"Well I'm hungry. How about a picnic, then? In the woods, the place where you told me about Hogwarts."

A genuine smile reached Severus's face at this. "Okay," he said simply.

They got up and walked back to Lily's house, where they entered the kitchen, and Lily busied herself with finding food for their makeshift picnic.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Evans," Severus said, ignoring Petunia, who did him the same favour.

"Oh, hey, Mum," said Lily, just noticing that her mother was now in the kitchen.

"Hello, Severus," said Lily's mother, while her father nodded at him and smiled. Severus was a regular occurrence in the Evans household, to the extreme distaste of Petunia. "Congratulations on becoming a prefect, dear!" Mrs. Evans said as she hugged her daughter and Petunia looked as if she had just swallowed a large amount of dish detergent. Unnoticed, Severus stared at Lily with his brow furrowed, a hurt look in his eyes.

"What are you two up to today?" Mrs. Evan's asked.

"Picnic," said Lily simply. She tossed an apple to Severus, who caught it clumsily, but did not eat it as he watched Lily throwing random items into a basket. "Let's see," she said thoughtfully after five minutes, "Peanut butter, jam, bread – wheat, I hope you don't mind – water, crisps, muffins, apple – do you want anything else?" she asked, looking up at Severus, who shook his head. "Off we go, then!"

"Blanket," said Mr. Evans, who had disappeared for a second and reappeared with a shabby quilt in his hands.

"Thanks, Dad," said Lily, taking the blanket and leading the way out of the kitchen.

They did not talk as they made their way to the spot in the wood behind Lily's house. Lily and Severus had perfected comfortable silence to such an extent that they sometimes preferred it to conversation. After about five minutes, they reached a small clearing, and Lily threw out the blanket to sit on. Severus set the basket on the blanket before settling on it himself, and the two toasted water bottles to their friendship, a successful six years, with hopefully many more to come.


	2. Chapter 2

"I honestly didn't expect to find you at the playground so early," said Severus. They were both lying on the blanket, staring into the canopy of leaves above them, with pleasantly full stomachs. "But I'm really glad you were there."

"I woke up this morning at four and couldn't get back to sleep. The only reason I wasn't out there earlier was because I decided to write the Trasfiguration essay."

"It was the dream about Dementors again." He wasn't asking a question.

"Yeah. It's those hands…" Lily gave an involuntary shudder. She had seen her first dementor at school the previous year, when a Ministry official came up to the school – some guy named Cornelius Fudge. Apparently, he liked to keep a dementor with him as a body guard on long journeys. Lily had been sitting by the lake when the official and his dementor entered the grounds. Dumbledore met them on the lawn and insisted that the dementor, at least, leave at once; but the memory of that cloaked, gliding figure, and the cold, empty feeling in her stomach stayed in Lily's memory permanently.

A pair of long fingers snapped above Lily's eyes and she flinched. "Earth to Lily," Severus said, smirking.

"Sorry," Lily said, propping herself up on her elbow and facing Severus. "On to lighter conversation."

"You got your Hogwarts letter," Severus said, and Lily nodded.

"I'm a prefect," Lily said, confirming what her mother had congratulated her on in the kitchen.

"Congratulations," said Severus, though he sounded thoroughly bored about it. "So when do you want to go into London?"

Lily paused while trying to think of how to best word this, and avoided Severus's eyes. Now that it was no longer five in the morning and she was fully awake and thinking clearly, she was starting to regret accepting Remus's invitation. She knew she would regret it more in a few moments time. It was crazy, but Lily felt like Severus could tell when she was hiding something from him. She knew if she looked directly at him, his eyes would bore into hers. At times it felt violating, like he was seeing directly into her thoughts. "Well…actually, I got two letters today."

"Did you?" said Severus, his eyebrows rising.

"Yeah," said Lily.

"Go on," said Severus after a moment of not-so-comfortable silence.

"It was from Remus, and he wanted to know if I wanted to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron on Wednesday," said Lily extremely quickly, but not quickly enough for Severus to misunderstand what she said.

He sat in silence for a minute, frowning. "Well, I suppose Lupin isn't the worst of the lot. I wouldn't mind him tagging along."

"Erm…" said Lily.

"No!" said Severus, catching on. "Not Potter and Black! You _hate_ Potter and Black!"

"_You_ hate Potter and Black. I simply find them annoying and arrogant. But they are in my house, and slightly…well, friend-like," Lily paused, as if trying to understand what she was saying herself. "Well, I'm friends with Remus and Peter, anyway."

Severus crossed his arms and lay back on the ground with a thud. "Oh, c'mon, Sev!" pleaded Lily, "It's not that bad! We go to Diagon Ally together every year."

"Exactly," said Severus defiantly, still not looking at Lily.

"Don't be childish," snapped Lily. "I'm allowed to have other friends, Severus."

"But you don't even like Black and Potter," Severus said quietly, almost pathetically.

"They're growing on me, but that isn't the point." Lily, frustrated that he wasn't looking at her, stood on her knees and bended so that her head was directly above his. "You are my best friend, Sev. Sit up!" she commanded suddenly, and even though he still looked extremely put out, Severus obeyed. Lily wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. "One day in Diagon Ally is not going to erase six years."

Severus held Lily close, as if he were never going to let go. "I know," he sighed.

Lily broke away, but kept her hands on his shoulders. "So stop pouting!" she laughed, and Severus couldn't help but smile, even the smallest bit.

They spent the rest of their anniversary lounging in the forest until nightfall, debating about current events in the wizarding world, including the ongoing rumours about the rising powerful wizard, whom everyone referred to as "You-Know-Who."

"All I'm saying is, I think it sounds dodgy," Lily was saying. "I don't trust the people out there spreading the word that this You-Know-Who is going to change the government for the better. He sounds like a dictator to me. That's always what dictators say."

"And all I'm saying," protested Severus, "is that maybe it would be nice to have a change in the hands of power. I mean, do you really think our Minister of Magic is the best guy for the job? After all the disappearances over the past year at the Ministry? You'd think he would do something more about it."

"What if they're connected?" said Lily, furring her eyebrows. "What if it isn't lack of Ministry security that is causing the disappearances, but this wizard and his supporters who're behind it?"

"You're just afraid of a bit of a rebellion."

"And I think you're too keen to have one when there isn't any need for an uprising."

After a while, when the conversation was becoming too tense, they moved onto discussing the kinds of potions they would start brewing once back at Hogwarts. Severus was an excellent potion maker, and he had trained Lily into being nearly as good. They spent their Thursday evenings in the dungeons experimenting on new potions. Severus had a book that wasn't even needed until N.E.W.T level, but his mother had given to him for his birthday. They went through the book and found shortcuts, ways to make potions better.

It was really Severus who was responsible for discovering how to make each potion better, but he often gave Lily credit anyway, even though she was just the one who stirred the cauldron. Professor Slughorn, their potions teacher, often gave her a lot of credit, too. So much in fact that she and Severus were both constantly invited to his "Slug Club" parties, which Lily and Severus avoided as much as possible. Neither of them wanted to be "collected" by Slughorn. The only reason they went to any of the parties at all was because Lily knew that Slughorn adored her, and she did not like seeing him look disappointed when she did not show up. After all, Slughorn did let her and Severus use the empty potions classroom to experiment.

After a while, they cleared up the basket and blanket, leaving them on Lily's doorstep as they went for a walk. They headed down to the river for a while, but turned back before getting too close to where Severus lived, eventually winding back up at the playground. They sunk back on to their usual swings and continued to talk.

"How are your parents lately?" Lily asked.

"Same old stuff," said Severus miserably. "But it's less about me now and more about magic in general."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, either my mum doesn't use enough magic to get everything done in the house that needs to be done, or she uses too much magic and she's going to – how did he phrase it? 'Release the devil into our house.'"

"Wow," said Lily simply. "Well, if it keeps getting worse, remember we have a very comfortable couch."

"Thanks, but I think after last time, I'm probably safer in my own dysfunctional house." The previous summer, Severus had come to sleep over for a night at the Evans' household. Petunia, who had gotten up in the middle of the night for a glass of water, claimed that she thought Severus, who was innocently asleep on the couch, was a burglar. She beat him with a broom until he ran out of the front door without shoes on. Upon discovering that Severus could not even get into his own locked house, he wound up sleeping on a bench in the playground that night.

Finally, the sun began to set, and the temperature dropped along with it. With another hug, Lily bade goodbye to Severus, who headed back down the street toward his tiny, rundown village where a great amount of lesser-wealthy society lived. Lily walked into her house, kicked off her shoes, and wandered into the kitchen.

"Just in time for dinner," said Mr. Evans, who was standing by the stove. Lily smiled. For some reason it made her extremely happy that her dad did the cooking. Perhaps it was because her mother was prone to burning things. Lily settled down at the table and pulled the abandoned newspaper toward her.

"Anything interesting happening in the Muggle world?" Lily asked her father, while gazing at the paper.

"Nothing new," said Mr. Evans. "How about in the wizarding world?"

"Who cares?" Petunia had just entered the kitchen, which for the first time in a long time, Lily was extremely grateful for. Lily avoided telling her parents about the wizarding world lately as best as she possibly could. She did not need them worrying about dark wizards and Ministry disappearances. She knew exactly what would happen if they did know – they would try to stop her from going back to school, no matter how proud they were that she was a witch. "What is it with you, you only come back for mealtimes? It that all we are to you? Food?"

"No, Tuney, that would be cannibalism," retorted Lily, making Petunia purse her lips again.

"Girls, knock it off," said Mrs. Evans. Mr. Evans put the dishes of food on the table. "How was your day with Severus, Lily?"

"It was fun," said Lily, swallowing a large amount of potato. Petunia turned her nose up at her. "We spent most of the day in the forest."

"See any interesting creatures?" said Mr. Evans eagerly.

"There are hardly any disgusting creatures from _her_ world in _our_ forest!" cried Petunia indignantly, as if having so much as a fairy in a forest that was anywhere near her was a personal insult.

"Petunia!" said Mrs. Evans warningly.

"Actually, she's sort of right, Mum," said Lily, "There probably aren't a lot of magical creatures in that wood. It isn't big enough. I suppose there could be a few bowtruckles, but they're difficult to see. They look like twigs."

"Fascinating," said Mr. Evans.

Petunia scoffed.


	3. Chapter 3

Lily spent the entirety of the next day lolling about and doing nothing. Severus didn't come by, and she wondered vaguely if, despite his denial of otherwise, he was jealous of the fact that Lily was going to spend the day with the Marauders tomorrow. For the first time, Lily wished that she had not finished all of her homework so that she would have something to occupy her. She couldn't wait to get to bed that night so it could be Wednesday, and she would have something to do. She spent the greater part of the day on the couch, making snide remarks as Petunia watched her soap operas.

Finally, Wednesday morning arrived. Lily got up very early again, though this time it was an alarm that woke her, and not a disturbing nightmare. She went again to her wardrobe, pulled open the door, and stared at her clothing. She usually threw on whatever was closest, but today she spent a solid quarter of an hour deciding what to wear.

"Lily! Hurry up!" Her mother called.

"Coming!" said Lily as she rushed down the stairs, a small purse, which contained the Hogwarts letter, money, and her wand, slung diagonally across her body. Lily hated using purses, but they were the most convenient way of carrying everything around, and this purse came in handy, as she had enchanted it so that the inside was twice as big as the outside. She did this for the sheer purpose of being able to carry her wand. Even though she knew she couldn't legally use it, she still liked to have it on hand.

The drive to London wasn't long. Mrs. Evans dropped Lily off in front of the Leaky Cauldron, said that she would meet her in the pub at five, and drove off to do some Muggle shopping of her own. Lily entered the small, unnoticed pub, and looked around. Tom, the toothless bartender, smiled at her and waved; Lily smiled and waved back, and was just going to order a butterbeer, when someone yelled, "Lily!"

Lily turned quickly and saw Remus, grinning from ear to ear and waving at her enthusiastically. "Remus!" she said happily. He got up to greet her and she threw her arms around him, which seemed to catch him a little off guard, but he gave her a quick squeeze anyway. "Are you feeling any better? I was so quick in responding that I forgot to ask in the letter," Lily said apologetically.

"I've been better," said Remus with a brave smile, "but I'm feeling fine today. It's great to see you."

"You, too." She turned, deciding she had best get the other greetings over with. James, who seemed to be hyperventilating upon Lily's first arrival, now had control of himself and held his arms open expectantly toward Lily.

"Hello, Potter. I'm not hugging you."

"Great to see you too, Evans," said James, grinning.

"How was your summer, Lily?" squeaked Peter from the corner.

"It's been pretty good, though I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts."

"And how's Snivellus?" smirked Sirius, "Not coming today, is he?" he looked around hopefully.

"He's fine, Sirius, and no, he's not coming," Even Lily was surprised by the amusement in her voice.

"Hey, since when is he 'Sirius'?" said James indignantly, "Why am I still Potter?"

Lily ignored him. "Shall we head out?"

They entered the courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron and Remus tapped the appropriate brick in the wall, thus revealing the archway into Diagon Ally. Lily couldn't help but smile at the sight of all the wizarding shops, each with witches and wizards bustling in and out, and each with various assorted strange objects displayed in the windows.

They pointed and laughed as they passed the shops and looked into the windows, lingering at some for a closer look. Sirius had to literally pick James up and carry him away from the Quality Quidditch Supplies window display of the newest Nimbus 1001 broom.

"But it's got a zero to sixty in-"

"I know, Jamesy boy, we'll do our best to buy you one for Christmas," Sirius said soothingly, as the others, including Lily, laughed.

The group headed straight for Gringotts, the marble bank towering above them.

"I love this building," said James, hugging a pillar after he ran up the steps before the rest of the group. A goblin outside glared at him.

"C'mon," squealed Peter. "The best part's _inside._"

The goblins behind the long counters lining the hall of Gringotts always made Lily nervous. She had never once seen a goblin smile. On second thought, she didn't want to. It would probably make them look that much more menacing.

"Keys?" said their goblin harshly. Lily swore that they made the counters so tall so that the goblins, so short regularly, could have the opportunity to tower above everyone, heightening their threat. They all gave their keys in turn, and the goblin led them through a door at the end of the hall. A cart flew to a halt directly in front them, and the five students along with the tiny goblin squeezed themselves in. "Hold on," said the goblin lazily, and the cart took off.

"Hands up!" Sirius shouted, and he and James flung their hands into the air. Peter managed to put one hand half way up pathetically, but desperately clung to the side of the cart as if his life depended on it, which it very well could have.

Remus looked half terrified, but with a "C'mon, Mooney, live a little!" from James, Remus gave a half hearted shrug at Lily, and he, too, put his arms up. "Evans?" James yelled over the rushing of the air through their ears.

Their eyes met and something jumped in Lily's stomach. It was probably just the roller coaster of a cart ride. But she did not break his gaze. His hazel eyes were slightly narrowed, one of his eyebrows cocked. He was clearly challenging her.

Lily would not shy away.

With a big breath, just as they were cresting the top of a large drop, Lily flung her arms into the air. She threw her head back and laughed as the bottom of her stomach seemed to fall out of her body during the free fall of the cart. Peter was screaming with terror; James and Sirius with joy. Lily joined in.

As suddenly as the wild ride started, it stopped. Poor Peter would have been thrown entirely out of the cart had James not caught his arm. Lily fell onto Remus, who fell onto Sirius, who did a ridiculous, over exaggerated summersault out of the cart and onto the landing in front of the vault. They all laughed, except the goblin who looked thoroughly annoyed. He coughed loudly and they all sobered up quickly.

They had stopped at Remus's vault first. There was not much gold behind the large door, but as he was the only child in his family, there was enough. The second cart ride was shorter, and not nearly as much fun, what with the clear grumpy nature of the goblin. They arrived to Peter's vault in just over a minute. Next, in a vault close enough to walk to, but they took the cart anyway, was Lily's. It was in her name, as she was the only one in her family in need of wizard money. Though she could technically just exchange Muggle money at the counter, the account was a gift from her parents for her last birthday. Inside was a decent amount of savings, which Lily intended to save as long as possible. It would be useful once she was finished with school. She took the amount necessary and moved on.

The Black family vault was further still underground. The group started to become excited again (with the exception of Peter) as the cart gained speed. Lily marvelled at the underground lake, and the massive stalagmites and stalactites protruding from the ceiling and the ground of the giant underground tavern.

"My family has technically disowned me," Sirius explained, swinging himself out of the cart without opening the door. Sometimes Lily wondered if Sirius believed in normal entrances and exits. "But they haven't got my copy of this key away from me yet, so that's their problem."

They reached the Potter vault last. Lily nearly audibly gasped from the amount of gold revealed when the doors opened. They had even more than the Black family! James scooped some money into a bag and hurriedly got back into the cart. Lily noticed that he was avoiding everyone's gaze. Was it possible that he was embarrassed by his wealth?

James and Sirius gave one last whoop as the cart came to a halt where they had started. "Thanks," said Lily to the goblin as she exited the cart. He ignored her.

As they were walking down the steps to Gringotts, they ran into Lily's roommate, Emmeline Vance, and her mother.

"Lily!" Emmeline said when she saw her, pulling her into a slightly unexpected hug. "And—you four?" said Emmeline, clearly confused by Lily's company. "Where's Snape?"

Lily shrugged. "I made other plans this year. Remus asked me along, so I said yes. Where's Alice?" said Lily, asking about their other roommate.

"Funnily enough, she also got asked by a certain boy to tag along for school shopping," said Emmeline with a conspiratorial giggle.

"Frank?" Lily staged whispered in excitement as Emmeline nodded, seemingly unable to contain her maniacal giggles.

"Okay, I can't take anymore giggling," said Remus, jokingly grabbing Lily's arm and leading her away. They called goodbye to Emmeline and continued down the street.

Lily, Sirius, and James all went to get new robes, while Remus and Peter volunteered to go into the Apothecary to pick up all their necessary potion kit refills. "Lily, how do you go through your stash so quickly?" Remus asked as Lily handed him some money and told him what she needed.

"Severus and I do some experimenting," Lily shrugged.

"I bet you do," Sirius winked. James scowled.

"You know what I mean!" But Lily laughed as she headed into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

"What do you think has her in such a good mood?" Sirius said to James as Lily disappeared into the shop.

"I dunno," said James, his eyebrows furred in thought. "Hey Lily," James said, stepping onto a stool next to Lily as Madam Malkin went about getting their measurements, "why are you being so nice?"

"Always the tactful one, James Potter," Sirius muttered, standing on a third stool on the other side of James.

Lily shrugged, then yelled in pain, as Madam Malkin accidently stuck her with a pin because of the movement. "Sorry," Lily muttered as Madam Malkin grunted in frustration. Concentrating on standing still, Lily stared straight ahead as she answered James, "I dunno. I mean, I'm close with Remus, I've even started becoming friends with Peter. And it's not like we've never gotten along, it's just –"

"You think we're arrogant prats," provided Sirius.

"Well, you are," said Lily before she could stop herself. Then, trying to make up for her rudeness, she said, "I think you have a lot of brains and talent and you put them in stupid places. But I've decided this year to try and not have my life be so separated into Severus and Gryffindor. I'm aloud to have other friends." Lily's voice grew slightly angry near the end.

"Methinks I sense some frustration," Sirius said.

"Not really. I mean, Severus and I are still getting along great, he's my best friend."

"But that's all you want and you're sensing that he wants more, so you want a little bit of space, hence coming here with us today," said Sirius knowledgably.

"Since when did he get so insightful?" Lily asked James.

"I accidently fed him essence of Dumbledore, and he hasn't shut up since."

When Lily, Sirius, and James had emerged with their new sets of robes, they found Remus and Peter already waiting for them, and decided that the next best course of action was ice cream. Ten minutes later, the five of them sat happily outside Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour, each with massive ice cream sundaes.

Just as James was making an inappropriate joke about eating Sirius's cherry, Lily spotted something behind Peter and suddenly choked. Remus patted her on the back a few times and looked in the direction where Lily was staring. Severus was walking out of Flourish and Blotts with a small group of Slytherins.

"Sev!" Lily called as they drew near, setting down her ice cream and waving happily at him. Severus gave a hardly noticeable curt nod at Lily, but otherwise kept walking by as if she didn't exist. The other Slytherins didn't even notice. Lily's hand stayed stationary in the air for another few moments before she let it drop into her lap.

"Ouch," said Peter simply.

"Yeah," said Lily.

"Don't worry about it, Evans," said James, looking at her sympathetically. "He's a jerk who needs to keep his reputation with his Dark Arts loving friends."

Lily was too upset to muster up a glare at James for insulting her friend. "I just don't get it. He never acts like that when we're alone."

"Maybe he was caught off guard," suggested Remus, "seeing you, I mean."

"I told him I was going to be here today with you lot. He knew. And as of yesterday he didn't have any other plans to go to Diagon Ally." Realization hit Lily like a brick. Severus didn't like who Lily was going to Diagon Ally with, so Severus called upon his friends whom he knew Lily did not care for, and asked them to come to Diagon Ally with him, on the exact same day. "He's trying to prove a point," Lily said dully. "This is stupid. I was having fun today. I'm not going to let this get to me."

James looked ecstatic.


	4. Chapter 4

They finished their ice cream and entered Flourish and Blotts to get their books, which was a greater amount than ever before, due to the fact that this year was their O.W.L (Ordinary Wizarding Level) year. They left the shop laden with ten books apiece, staggering under the weight back to the Leaky Cauldron, where they deposited their items. Tom said he would look after their stuff, so they headed back into the Ally to look around some more shops until five o'clock rolled around.

When it did, they headed back into the pub for dinner, joined by Lily's mother, James's parents, and Remus's dad. The Potters were tall and thin like James. Mr. Potter had the same messy, black hair, while Mrs. Potter's dark curls fell to her shoulders. They held themselves elegantly, though they dressed no differently than the majority of the witches and wizards bustling in and out of the ally. If Lily hadn't seen their vault a few hours before, she would never be able to tell the extent of their estate.

Remus's mother, who was a Muggle, was visiting her parents in the countryside, so Mr. Lupin had come solitarily. Like, James, Remus looked a good deal like his father. They had the same light brown hair, and Lily noticed that Mr. Lupin got the same crease between his eyebrows when he was thinking. Occasionally, Mr. Lupin would glance worriedly at his son, as if making sure he was actually okay and not just putting up a front.

Mrs. Evans clearly felt out of place when she first arrived, being the only Muggle in their company, but the others welcomed her warmly, doing their best to make her feel comfortable. James was so polite to Mrs. Evans that Lily reached over and smacked him on the head. "What was that for?" both James and Mrs. Evans asked.

Lily said simply, "He knows," and glared at James, who grinned in a sheepishly guilty short of way.

"Where are your parents, Peter?" Lily asked, noting their absence.

Peter blushed and Lily suddenly wished she had thought to ask him under her breath instead of announcing it to the table.

"They had some stuff for work, so Peter's staying with me for the week," said James, throwing an arm around Peter and tousling his hair. Peter swatted his hand away but smiled appreciatively.

"Lily, you okay?" said Remus under his breath. Lily had been staring at James, a strange expression on her face, as if she were debating something.

"Yeah," Lily said. "I'm good." And she meant it.

"Thanks again for having me, Mr. and Mrs. Potter," said Peter squeakily.

"Not at all, Peter," said Mr. Potter.

"We like having a full house," said Mrs. Potter, as Tom showed the group to a private parlour.

"Remus, you should come, too!" said Sirius. "Then they'd have the set!"

"What do you mean?" asked Lily, sitting between her mother and Remus.

"Like I said, the family disowned me," said Sirius, though he sounded thoroughly emotionally apathetic about it. "So the Potters have taken me under their wing. Just until I can get on my feet."

"Don't be ridiculous, Sirius," said Mrs. Potter. "You stay with us for as long as you need. A boy your age doesn't need to be worrying about apartments and rent."

"A boy my age shouldn't be worrying about violent racism either, but there we have it," said Sirius, though this time more quietly, so that only James next to him and Remus and Lily across could hear him.

The waiter brought out dishes of mashed potatoes, roasted chicken, and vegetables. The group chatted merrily as they loaded up their plates, Lily still partially surprised by the amount of fun she was having given the company that she was in.

"Oh, your father will be so sorry that he missed this," said Mrs. Evans, who had become visible more comfortable with the group, especially after a hearty conversation with Mr. Lupin about gardening. "He would have loved to talk to adult wizards and witches one on one."

"Is your father interested in magic?" Remus asked Lily.

"He's become practically obsessed. He wants to start ordering the _Daily Prophet_."

"That wouldn't be such a bad idea," said Mr. Potter, "though it may worry him. And you, too, Mrs. Evans. But sometimes it's necessary to worry if it keeps your family safe."

"What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Evans nervously.

Lily looked wide eyed at Mr. Potter, as if he would understand that she wanted him to stop talking, but unfortunately, he didn't even notice her looking at him. Lily stayed very up to date with current events in the magical world, but she did her very best to make sure that her parents were not. Ever since their second year, when major disappearances starting happening, Lily would avoid speaking about wizarding news; she knew it would only worry her mother and father – especially given events lately.

Last year, a mysterious image of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth appeared in the sky over the scene of a murder. Since then, seven more skulls had appeared, and it seemed as if the numbers were growing. If Lily's parents found out about it, she knew they would not love the wizarding world nearly as much as they had in the past.

"There have been strange things starting to happen in our world," Mr. Potter said gravely. Lily cringed as he continued. "Disappearances have been growing more rapid over the last four years, and I'm afraid that rumours of the rising Dark Lord to rival Grindelwald are starting to become a reality. His ranks will soon be growing; he'll be collecting young, impressionable minds that are easily corruptible. I fear that it will not be long before he makes his move."

There were nervous looks around the table, and Lily stared determinedly at her food, ignoring the sympathetic look that Peter was giving her. Severus, and the entire group he hung out with at Hogwarts, including Avery and Wilkes, who he had been with today, would be prime candidates for the 'impressionable minds' that Mr. Potter was speaking of. Once again, Lily tried to catch the eye of Mr. Potter in hopes that he would stop talking.

"Who is this…dark wizard?" asked Mrs. Evans quietly.

"There are rumours," said Mrs. Potter, now joining into the conversation, trying to keep her voice calm so as to not alarm Mrs. Evans, but still sounding inevitably nervous, "that there is a Tracing Charm automatically placed on anyone who says his name. Now, that is an incredibly complex and extremely improbable spell…however, for safety reasons, the wizarding world has begun referring to him as 'You-Know-Who.'"

"Where did the rumours come from if they're not true?" said Mrs. Evans, clearly scared.

"It's just something people started assuming," said Mr. Lupin. "It's not exactly something we can confirm, however, as all those who could have told us for certain are dead."

"What do you mean dead?" Mrs. Evans now looked positively horrified. Lily hid her face in her hands as her mother looked over at her.

The Potters and Mr. Lupin looked over at Lily, shocked that she had not been keeping her parents up to date. "I didn't want to worry you," said Lily, her voice muffled by her hands.

"I know you don't want your mother to worry, Lily," said Mr. Potter. "But it is important that she and your father are kept informed. That way, they can keep themselves safe."

Lily nodded into her hands, signalling for them to go on.

It was Mr. Potter who continued talking. James's eyes never left Lily.

"This will scare you, but do try to listen as closely as possible. There is discrimination in our world. A great amount of discrimination, against those who are not fully magical. These people who would want a pure-blooded race now have a leader, You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I would write down the name for you, but there is not point. You're safer if you do not know it, that way, you cannot accidently say it if the rumour is true. The followers of this new dark wizard want to purify the wizarding race. The world, if possible."

"Are you saying," said Mrs. Evans. She looked like she was going to be sick. "That the target of this –group – is _us_?"

"Any Muggle or part Muggle," confirmed Mrs. Potter.

"Now, keep listening because this part is very important. The sign of You-Know-Who and his followers is a skull in the sky with a snake protruding from its mouth. If you at any time see this in the sky_ get you and your family as far away as possible_."

There was a long silence. Lily stared stubbornly at the table. She knew that the Potters and Mr. Lupin were trying to help, but they had no idea the harm that they were causing. There was no way her mother was going to get a decent night's rest now.

Mrs. Evans looked nervously at her daughter. "Perhaps sending you into the magical world is not the safest thing right now…" she started slowly.

"Mum!" Lily yelled, jumping and nearly upending the table, her worst fear of her mother's reaction coming true. James looked horrified at Mrs. Evans for suggesting such a thing. "I have to go to Hogwarts!"

"She's right," said Mr. Lupin. "If you are looking for a safe place for Lily right now, it's at Hogwarts, with Dumbledore."

"Yeah," said James quickly, determined to close the case and make sure that Lily would be back at Hogwarts. "I mean, he's the best Headmaster anyone could hope for. He defeated Gridelwald, the last big dark wizard, in the 1940's. He can handle this new wizard, whoever he is."

Mrs. Potter leaned over and covered Mrs. Evan's hand in hers. "Lily will be okay. She will be surrounded by highly protected castle walls. She will have some of the best trained wizards and witches in our country to protect her."

"And not allowing Lily to continue her magical education is, in a way, letting them win," said Mr. Potter.

Mrs. Evans still looked highly worried, but nodded.

They finished dinner, talking a significant amount less than they had before the topic of the dark arts was brought up.

"See you in a week!" Lily called miserably as she got into the passenger side of her mother's car.

"Dark matter aside, I'm glad I came along today," said Mrs. Evans courageously trying to move on, but not fully hiding the quake in her voice. "It was nice to meet some of your friends. I like those Potters. And their son – James, is it? Handsome young man."

Lily scowled.


	5. Chapter 5

The last week of summer went by uneventfully. Lily didn't see much of Severus, and when she did, neither of them mentioned the incident at Diagon Ally; but there was a strange tension between them now, as if they both knew that things were going to change, and they were bracing themselves for the impact. Any time Lily thought about this, it made her extremely sad, and she was not sure why. After all, change wasn't always a bad thing. Their friendship had survived worse. Either way, she avoided thinking about her relationship with Severus.

Instead she focused on packing. Lily was not well organized. Her books and school things were littered all over the house, in various nooks and crannies. It was a good thing that she started looking for everything the day after she got back from Diagon Ally, as she was in a constant state of packing up until the night before September the first.

That night, a familiar excitement began to course through her veins at the thought of returning to the school that had become so much like home to her. She couldn't wait to be within the comforting stone walls again. Most of all, she could not wait to do magic again. She was itching to pick up her wand and start casting spells.

The next morning was cool and clear. Lily got up, put on the clothes that she had left out of her trunk, loaded her belongings into the car, and drove with her dad into London. Lily never understood why the nerves grew to such a point when she hugged her dad goodbye and pushed her trolley toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten, but her heart always began to race to the point where it felt as if it was going to explode out of her chest. Then, once she was on Platform 9 ¾ and saw the scarlet steam engine billowing smoke into the air, she would calm instantly. Lily smiled and pushed her trunk further onto the platform. She spotted Severus and went directly over to him.

"Hey!" she said, smiling and forgetting all previous tension.

Apparently Severus had not. "Hello," he said simply.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"Liar," Lily smirked.

Just then, the "friends" that accompanied Severus to Diagon Ally appeared behind him. "Oh," said Lily in realization. "I see. Well, okay, I'll see you at the school," she tried to say cheerily, but knew she sounded fake.

"Yeah, see you," said Severus, who turned away, but he had a pained look on his face.

Lily wandered away, pushing her trunk, not completely sure where she was going.

"Lost, Evans?"

Lily looked up to see James's smiling face. "Sort of," she said, frowning.

James looked behind her at Severus and his group of Slytherins. "Oh," he said in the same way as Lily. "C'mon," he said, "we have a compartment to ourselves."

"You don't have to be nice to me," Lily said defiantly.

"I'm just trying to make a truce, like you said in Madam Malkin's," James said, holding his hands up.

"Okay," said Lily, following him.

He put his arm around her as they walked, "Now, if you would just go out with me, the truce-"

"Damn it, Potter!" Lily yelled. James immediately took his arm off of her shoulders, but continued to grin. He helped Lily hoist her trunk into their compartment, and climbed in after her.

"Where's Snivelly?" Sirius asked, slightly confused, but actually looking happy to see Lily. She added an interesting dynamic to their group, he thought.

"Don't ask," said Lily, sitting down next to Sirius and glaring.

"Do you want me to go curse him for you?" James asked hopefully.

"You will not now, nor ever, hear me ask you to curse him, Potter."

They heard a muffled grunting and a thud in the hallway. James opened the door to see Peter sprawled across his trunk, which had apparently caught a snag, causing Peter to trip headlong over it. James sniggered, but reached down to help his friend up, then helped hoist the trunk into the luggage rack. "Thanks, James," said Peter weakly, sinking into the empty seat across from Lily.

"Where's Remus?" asked Lily.

"Just saying goodbye to his parents," answered Peter, jabbing his thumb in the direction of the platform. Sure enough, in just a couple minutes they were joined by their favourite werewolf. He looked exhausted as he fell into the seat next to Lily.

"Bad last full moon before Hogwarts?" asked James sympathetically.

"To say the least," Remus sighed.

"Well, remember, there's going to be a positive spin on your transformations this year at Hogwarts, so maybe things will start looking up," suggested Peter in his squeaky voice.

"Why's that?" Was it Lily's imagination, or did the boys suddenly look tense?

"Why's what?" said Sirius quickly.

"Why are his transformations going to be easier?" Lily asked, slightly suspiciously.

"Because…transforming into a werewolf gets easier with time. My muscles are used to it by now. It's common knowledge that a werewolf reaches peak transformation pain at fifteen," Remus said very quickly. Even though Lily had the distinct impression that he was lying, as she had never heard such a thing about a teenage werewolf, she did not press the matter. Truth be told, she didn't really want to know. She would probably just get angry. "Anyway," said Remus, quickly changing course, "we'd better head off to the prefects' carriage, Lily."

"Oh, I completely forgot!" Lily said, standing with Remus and preparing to leave.

"Lily," said Sirius suddenly, "who's the male Slytherin prefect?"

"Don't worry," said Lily with a slight smile on her face, "You and Severus are still on a level playing ground."

Sirius sighed with relief.

Lily and Remus left the compartment, and as soon as the door slid shut behind them, both James and Sirius reached over and smacked Peter hard upside the head. "Hey!" he protested.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" James yelled. "You almost told Lily about our plan!"

"Are you trying to ruin three solid years of hard work?" Sirius snapped.

"But I thought we wanted Lily on our side?" Peter asked, confused.

"We do," said James, "we definitely do. But telling her," he dropped his voice very low, "that we are practicing to become illegal animagi is not the way to win her trust right now. And she's a prefect! She still dislikes us enough—" Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, ok, she dislikes me enough to turn me in, and we can't have that happening. We don't even have it perfected yet."

James, Sirius, and Peter had been studying to be animagi ever since they learned of Remus's lycanthropy. Even though Lily was a part of that discovery, they did not think it best to inform her of their illegal plans. So far, they had managed to keep it from her, and a slip up this close to the finish line would be a tragedy indeed. James and Sirius could now completely turn into their respective animals – James as a stag, and Sirius as a huge black dog – but they could only retain their form for a couple hours at a time. Peter still needed help from James and Sirius to make a full transformation. Still, they figured in only a few months time, they would be prepared to accompany Remus in his werewolf state.

"I feel sort of bad for Lily," Peter said quietly after a few moments silence. "I mean, Snape is her best friend – "

"I'd expect people to feel sorry for me if I had a git of a best friend like that, too," said James.

"That's not what I meant," continued Peter. "Lily doesn't have a lot of close friends outside Snape, does she? I mean, everyone likes her, but he's the only one she really talks to. And now it looks like he's abandoning her for his Dark Arts friends."

James frowned.

"She hangs out with Emmeline Vance," Sirius suggested. Emmeline was a girl who they all got on rather well with, though honestly did not know too much about. "And Alice – uh, whatever her last name is."

"Yeah," said James absentmindedly. He was leaning with his forehead against the window, staring at the sheep, fields, and barns that went flying by. He agreed wholeheartedly with what Peter had said; he did feel sympathy for Lily. As much as he despised Snape and everything he stood for, Lily cared about him. And while that added to James's dislike of the greasy haired boy, it almost made him want to back off on bullying him. Almost. Lily was feeling torn between Gryffindor and Snape…

But that was ridiculous, the choice was obvious, and Lily was being ludicrous for not seeing that she should cut off her relationship with the Slytherin git all together. He would only stop attacking Snape when Snape stopped attacking him, which was never going to happen. Yes, he did not like that Lily felt sad, but she should be smart enough to cut away the rot that was eating away at her.

Apparently James's thoughts were showing on his face. "Er, Jamesy boy?" Sirius said, breaking James out of his reverie. "You're going to break the glass with your forehead." James was pushing his head against the window so hard that the glass was shaking.

"Oops," said James, leaning away from the window.

"Thinking about Evans again?" Sirius smirked.

"I don't understand what she sees in Snivellus and not me," James grunted. "I could have any girl in Hogwarts –"

"Any girl that isn't after me," Sirius corrected. "Which narrows it down quite a lot."

"Lily's right," Peter said suddenly. "You two _are_ arrogant prats."

This comment was met with two hard tackles as the larger boys jumped on Peter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: So I was forced to make up a lot of names for this chapter in order to have the sorting feel normal. Also, I needed someone to be the Quidditch captain, cause I didn't want it to be James just yet; and I needed another roommate for the Gryffindor girls (I know, there are only four, but I figure they can't have exactly five every time) Again, made-up characters won't be featured.**

**The only first years that are a part of the actual JKR world are Glenda Chittock and Lorcan d'Eath.**

**Also, a note on Hobday: he doesn't technically exist, but according to somewhere I read (I'm guessing somewhere on the HP Lexicon – it's been a while since I did the research for this, but it's in my notes), Oakden Hobday was a possible name for a DADA teacher that JKR was considering. She had it written down in her notes, along with the name **Mylor Sylvanus (which I will end up using, too, if I write for their 6th and 7th years).

It was a couple of hours before Remus and Lily returned from prefect duty. "How'd it go?" asked Sirius, smirking. The fact that a Marauder had received a prefect badge brought him a great amount of amusement.

"Not bad," answered Remus.

"Has the trolley been by yet?" Lily asked. "I'm starving."

"Not yet," said James, though rather fiercely.

"Are you okay?" asked Lily, caught off guard.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm fine," said James distractedly. He had been thinking about Lily and Snape again, and had allowed it to affect his speaking voice. He needed to remember to keep the two things separate in the future. "Game of Exploding Snape—I mean, Snap?" he asked.

They spent the next few hours playing cards, which would occasionally explode in the losers (mainly, Peter's) face, causing the compartment to howl with laughter. A little while after they started, the witch with the lunch trolley came by, and Lily and the Marauders bought themselves a very big lunch of cauldron cakes and other sweets. Soon after, they were joined by Emmeline and Alice.

"We wondered where you'd gotten to!" said Emmeline, flopping down on the floor of the compartment, where the others sat around the Exploding Snap cards. "We even ventured into a compartment jam packed with Slytherins, just in case you had gone crazy and were sitting in there with Severus."

"We just managed to get out before they all drew their wands," said Alice darkly.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," said Lily defensively. "Most of them are really all talk." But Lily avoided everyone's eyes as she spoke, and stared determinedly at the cards in her hands. They had all heard this before; it wasn't uncommon for Lily to defend the Slytherins. Everyone knew who she was really defending.

"Well, the point is," said Emmeline, with the clear tone of trying to change the subject, "we were desperately bored. Deal us in!"

Sirius happily did so, and the seven of them continued playing until the sun had set, occasional friends stopping by their compartment to say hi, most of them looking pleasantly surprised to see Lily there. "I _do_ have other friends!" Lily snapped in frustration when Kingsley Shacklebolt and Frank Longbottom, two Gryffindors, a seventh and sixth year respectively, expressed this same surprise. Kingsley, very tall and charming, with his dark shaved head gleaming in the light from the carriage window, chuckled in his deep, calming voice, causing even Lily to break into a smile in spite of herself.

The game got so rigorous that when it was finally time to change into their school robes, even Lily had forgotten her worries and was laughing along with the rest at Peter's lack of eyebrows. They were almost back at Hogwarts, and the anticipation was building. James had his face pressed flat against the glass, trying to get the first look at the castle. He was inadvertently pushing his glasses askew on his face.

Emmeline nudged Lily and smirked; Lily had been watching James with a smile playing on her lips. "What?" demanded Lily, the smile leaving her face at once; she blushed a little and looked away quickly.

In no time, they were pulling into Hogsmeade station, reaching into the luggage racks, and dragging their trunks onto the platform so that they could be brought up to the castle for them. Lily saw James saying goodbye to his owl before running back over to the group so they could get an apparently horseless carriage together. Lily went along with the Marauders, while Emmeline and Alice joined Kingsley and Frank in theirs. Lily barely caught sight of Severus entering a carriage with Avery, Wilkes, and Mulciber before the door closed.

The carriage rattled as it traveled up the uneven road toward the castle. Lily stuck her head right out of the window and watched as Hogwarts castle, with its many tiny golden windows, loomed nearer. She was happy to be home. When the carriage stopped, James was the first to jump out. Then he turned back to the carriage door and held his hand out. "My lady," he said, bowing ridiculously.

"Why thank you!" said Sirius, pushing Lily out of the way and taking James's hand. James glared and Sirius barked with laughter.

Lily jumped gracefully out of the carriage next, then turned to Remus and Peter. "My ladies," she said, copying James. The group erupted into laughter, and both Remus and Peter, highly amused, took each of Lily's hands. Emmeline, Alice, Frank, and Kingsley, who had just gotten out of the next carriage, were giggling at them.

Together, the Gryffindors climbed the remaining steps up to the great oak doors, and for the first time in a long time, Lily felt as though she truly belonged with her housemates.

Lily kept her eyes on the enchanted ceiling as they entered the Great Hall, and took care to seat herself on the side of the Gryffindor table facing the wall, her back against the Slytherins. Remus and Peter sat on either side of Lily and next to Emmeline, while Sirius, James, Kingsley, Alice, and Frank sat opposite them. Lily looked around and smiled as she realized how grateful she was to have them all there.

"Ah, there he is!" said James suddenly, nudging Sirius.

"Who?" asked Peter, looking in the same direction as James.

"The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It's gotta be, there aren't any other new positions open, are there?"

Lily followed James's eye, and spotted the new teacher instantly, sitting next to jovial Professor Slughorn, the potions master. He had dark brown hair with some flecks of grey, and was probably around fifty, if Lily were to guess. He had a very chiseled and serious looking face that was slightly intimidating; he looked as if when he stood he would be about as tall as Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster.

"Doesn't look too pleasant, does he?" said Alice, a bit apprehensively.

Her question did not need answering, but no one had a chance to do so anyway. At that moment, the door behind the staff table opened, and a long line of first years were lead from the chamber off the hall by Professor McGonagall, the stern looking deputy headmistress who also taught Transfiguration. She had a love-hate relationship with both James and Sirius, as they always received top marks in her class, but were the most rambunctious trouble makers she had ever met.

As she looked at the long line of trembling first years, Lily had a quick flash of remembering when she was sorted. She was absolutely terrified, and torn between what she wanted. She knew that Severus wanted to be in Slytherin, and most likely would be, but should couldn't help but be intrigued by the way that that annoying boy on the train (James) had talked about Gryffindor… She remembered relaxing suddenly, and leaving it entirely up to the Sorting Hat to determine her destiny.

Lily broke out of her reminiscing and looked around the table. She could tell by the glazed look of her peers' eyes that they too were remembering the time when they were sorted. "You ignored me," said Sirius suddenly, as if reading her mind.

"What?" Lily whispered.

"You were sorted into Gryffindor, and I moved over to make room for you, and you did this," Sirius did a very good, but over-the-top impersonation of Lily, crossing his arms, turning his back on James, and thrusting his nose in the air. Everyone suppressed a laugh, even Lily.

"Well, yeah," she snorted. "You and James were being right gits on the train. You deserved it."

Upon hearing his first name spoken by Lily, James snapped upright and stared at her with his mouth hanging open, but Lily ignored him, as the rip near the brim of the Sorting Hat had opened wide, and the hat begun to sing:

_Prick up your ears and listen close_

_Yong first years knew and scared_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,_

_So make yourselves prepared_

_To join the house which you most fit_

_Cunning, loyal, smart, or dared._

_A true Gryffindor possesses_

_Strong fire in their heart_

_While lofty Ravenclaws_

_Must fly right and stay smart._

_A Hufflepuff is down to earth_

_Both loyal and fair-minded,_

_While smooth as water Slytherins_

_Are cunning and decided._

_So put me on and let me in_

_Your mind is like a book_

_I'll read you rather easily_

_Just let me have a look!_

The entire hall burst into applause when the hat had finished, and the first years looked more terrified than ever. All except one that is, who looked rather bored. Lily hadn't noticed him until now, but now that she did, she didn't understand why she hadn't seen him before. He was almost a head taller than all of the other first years, with a pale, handsome face. Lily turned instantly and nudged Remus, who was very good with magical creatures, just as Professor McGonagall called, "Adikson, Cathleen!" and a terrified looking girl with mousey brown hair sat on the three legged stole.

"Remus!" Lily hissed, "That boy looks like a vampire– "

"A vampire?" Peter said, rather loudly, causing several Hufflepuffs to look around in alarm.

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat, and the table two over from theirs burst with applause.

"No," said Remus, his brow furred. "He can't be a full vampire, otherwise he wouldn't be able to come to Hogwarts."

"They let you in," smirked Sirius as they applauded Richard Anderson, who had just become a Gryffindor.

Remus looked around to make sure that no one other than James, Peter, and Lily heard him, before turning back to Sirius and grinning sarcastically. "That's not what I meant. At least I can be out and about during the day. Full-fledged vampires can't physically be out when the sun is up. If this kid is a full vampire, there is no way he could have come on the Hogwarts Express today."

"Babb, Phillip!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Bolen, Sven!"

"SLYTERIN!" The Gryffindor table, minus Lily, booed loudly at this.

"Casteneda, Lucy!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Chittock, Glenda!"

A rather tall girl for her age, with straight strawberry blonde hair, Glenda skipped up to the Sorting Hat. She didn't seem to be nervous at all.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table erupted in cheers again to greet Glenda as she skipped over to the table and sat down next to Richard.

"d'Eath, Lorcan!" cried Professor McGonagall, and the hall was filled with whispers as Lorcan, the part-vampire, glided up to the stool and sat down gracefully, and with perfect posture.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Well, there's a surprise!" said Sirius, "I thought he was a Slytherin for sure."

"Why, just because he's part vampire?" snapped Remus.

"Breath, Remus," said Emmeline, who had finally started listening to their conversation, and was looking slightly surprised at Remus.

Sirius reached over and grasped Remus's shoulder, "I was just kidding, mate. I should know above anyone that it isn't blood that determines what house you're in." He took the slightest of glances at the Slytherin table. Lily didn't turn around to look, but she guessed that Sirius had looked quickly at his younger brother, Regulus. Sirius was the only one in his immediate family who did not love the Dark Arts or think that pure-bloods should rule the Wizarding World. Lily felt a sudden rush of compassion for Sirius. She refused to say it out loud, but she was starting to understand the Marauders better, and they were definitely growing on her.

"Tibs, Marcus!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Setoh, Brian!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily applauded with the rest of her table, but wished that the sorting would hurry up and get over with. She was starving.

"Staschack, Natasha!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

The sorting of the rest of the first years went on for another ten minutes, but finally "Yoon, Victoria!" became a Hufflepuff, and Albus Dumbledore, the school headmaster, stood up with his arms wide, as if trying to embrace the entire student body all at once.

"I have extreme doubts," said Professor Dumbledore with a slight smile, "that any of you will listen to a word I have to say at the moment, whilst your stomachs are so empty. So let the feast begin!"

There was a great round of applause, and the students turned eagerly to the golden plates and goblets before them, as they were suddenly and magically filled with food. Lily dished grand amounts of food onto her plate; the feasts were one of her favourite parts about living at Hogwarts. She had to keep reminding herself not to eat too much, so as she could save room for her favourite treacle tart when the desserts appeared.

The Gryffindors laughed and talked as they ate, and were greatly entertained by Nearly-Headless Nick, who came to sit with them halfway through the feast. Nick was the Gryffindor house ghost, and very friendly, despite the fact that his head was almost completely detached from his body. It was held on by only a couple inches of pearly white, transparent skin, and Nick used a ruffle to secure his head on straight.

Full to the bursting with food, and feeling very sleepy, the students watched the food disappear and waited for Professor Dumbledore's start of term speech. Sure enough, once the plates were cleared, the headmaster stood up once more to address his students.

"Welcome, first years!" he said in a jolly voice, "And welcome back every other year! I trust your summer went well?" Dumbledore stood with his fingers entwined, and actually waited for an answer, looking pleasantly out at all the tables.

"Smashing!" yelled James, and there were several other yells, following his lead.

Dumbledore chuckled, "I'm very glad to hear it. As you all know, the Forbidden Forest is…well, forbidden to all students. Mr. Filch has a long list of items which are not permitted for use in the school, which he will be happy to provide anyone who asks." Dumbledore smiled involuntarily as if he extremely doubted anyone would ask. "Quidditch trials are to be set by the team captains, but should occur within roughly three weeks time."

James beamed. He was obsessed with Quidditch, and was a chaser on the Gryffindor team, "I wonder who's captain this year?" James hissed.

"I bet it's Dana," Sirius muttered. Sirius was not on the house team, but was nearly as obsessed with the Quidditch season as James was.

"I would now like to turn your attention to our latest – erm, _new_est Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Oakden Hobday!"

There was some laughter in the applause that followed, due entirely to Dumbledore's slip of "latest" – there didn't seem to be anything funny about Hobday himself. It was amusing because the statement was so true; there had not been a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that had lasted more than one year in decades. There were rumors that the job was cursed.

"Unfortunately, it is necessary at this time to talk about more somber matters. I am sure that all of you have now become aware of a dark wizard by the name of Voldemort." Dumbledore spoke with such calm, as if he were announcing the weather.

Several people screamed. There were shouts of "Don't say his name!"

Lily stared wide eyed at Dumbledore. Until that moment, Lily had begun to doubt that the dark wizard even had a name, but there was no doubt from the sudden uproar who Dumbledore was speaking of. This was the first time that she had heard anyone speak You-Know-Who's name. They did not even print his name in the papers.

Dumbledore raised his hand and silence fell once again around the hall. "I want each and every one of you to understand that you are completely safe within this castle. There is no need to fear his name whilst you are behind these walls. However, that does not mean that I do not urge you to exercise caution. At any sign of strange activity, come to my office immediately. You are exactly the group of witches and wizards that Voldemort would most like to recruit." There was another jump around the hall, though this time not as much uproar. "There are dark times to come, and it is more important now than ever that we stay strong and united. Keep your friends close. Now, you all have a long day of classes ahead of you tomorrow, so I wish you a goodnight and pleasant dreams!"

The hall became very loud once more as the students got up to leave. Everyone was talking about what Dumbledore had just said.

"Do you think it's true?" asked Peter, looking terrified.

"It must be if Dumbledore said it," said James shrugging. "Dark times are ahead."

Lily stood up and nearly screamed when she turned around to find herself face

to face with Severus.

"Sev!" said Lily, grasping her heart and allowing her breathing to go back to normal. "Don't _do _that!"

"Sorry," he muttered quickly, ignoring the glares he was receiving from James and Sirius. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"I have to lead the first years to the Fat Lady," Lily stated, avoiding his eyes.

"It will only take a minute, I promise," he muttered, moving his head so it was in her direct line of sight, forcing eye contact. Lily's mouth twitched, which Severus noticed, and he smiled as she walked with him out of the hall.

"What is it?" Lily asked. She noticed that the Marauders had not left the hall yet, and that Remus was actually stalling by giving the group of first years a quick history of the Great Hall. "The ceiling, as you notice, has been bewitched – " she could just hear him say. She knew they were staying behind to make sure she was okay, and she wasn't sure whether to be slightly annoyed by this, as if they thought she couldn't take care of herself. She decided in the end, though, to be grateful for their thought.

"I wanted to apologize for acting like such a…" Severus struggled for the right phrase.

"Arrogant prat?" Lily suggested, and Severus flinched at being named the same insult that she so often gave to James and Sirius.

"I deserved that," he said glumly. "Do you forgive me?"

Lily paused, an internal debate going on, while Remus brought the golden plates and goblets into the attention of the first years. She sighed, "Of course. But I don't want your Slytherin friends to push us apart!"

"And I don't want your Gryffindor friends to take you away," Severus said.

"They won't," said Lily. "Promise."

"Okay. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," said Lily, and she punched his arm playfully before he departed to the dungeons.

"And as we make our way into the Entrance Hall…" said Remus. James, Sirius, and Peter were acting like they were trying to blend into the group of first years.

"Professor Lupin!" cried Sirius "Are we done yet? I have to go to the bathroom."

"Professor Lupin!" James whined. "Sirius keeps poking me."

"You can knock it off now, guys," smirked Lily. "He's gone."

Remus turned around to face her, looking slightly sheepish. "Sorry, Lily," he said. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay. I would have given you more time, but McGonagall was staring daggers at me, we were close to being the last ones in the hall."

"I appreciate it," said Lily earnestly, "I'm serious."

"No you're not!" cried Sirius in fake indignation. "I am!"

The first years roared with laughter, and Sirius looked very proud of himself. Lily rolled her eyes, but couldn't help smiling, too. "C'mon," she said, leading the way up the marble staircase.

It was a rather long walk up to the common room, which was located on the seventh floor of Gryffindor tower. They took a few shortcuts along the way, staircases hidden behind tapestries or statues that Lily had never used before. She tried her best to not look as impressed with the Marauders' knowledge of secret passageways as the first years.

"Wow!" cried Glenda Chittock as James tapped the arm of a suit of armor and it stepped aside obediently, revealing a hole in the wall and a staircase going up at least three floors.

"Now, don't go giving away our secrets," James said to the first years, who all solemnly nodded their allegiance.

"How many secrets are there at Hogwarts?" asked Glenda, who was obviously very taken with James. James smirked at Lily, who rolled her eyes at him.

"Loads," he said to Glenda. "Hundreds, maybe even thousands."

"Wow," Glenda mouthed this time, rather than saying it.

When they finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Lily stared blankly at her. She realized that she had completely forgotten to ask either the Head boy or girl what the password was. "I've got it, Lily," said Remus, striding to stand next to her. "I asked Lennox right after you left. Aconite," he said, turning to the Fat Lady, who smiled at them as the portrait swung open, revealing a hole in the wall. "After you," said Remus, gesturing for Lily to go first. She put her hand on the wall just inside the hole, and, hoisting herself up the small step, crouched through the space.

The Gryffindor common room was bright and full of many squashy, red armchairs. There were tables scattered around the room as well. On the far side of the circular room were two doors. As everyone climbed through the hole, Lily directed them to their dormitories: boys through the left hand door, and girls through the right. Once all the first years had dispersed, Lily turned to Remus, Sirius, Peter, and James.

"Well, goodnight, you lot," she said, half smiling at them. "I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast." They bade her goodnight, as well, and Lily entered the right hand set of doors and climbed the spiral staircase until the fourth landing, where a small sign reading "fifth years" hung. She swung the door open and saw that Alice and Emmeline were already there and unpacking, along with her other roommates Mary Macdonald and Janet Naatz.

"Lily!" yelled Emmeline, throwing a pillow at her.

"Hey!" said Lily, laughing and throwing it back. She went over to her trunk to pull out some pajamas, and saw her wand. "Merlin!" exclaimed Lily. "I haven't done a single bit of magic yet!" Lily eagerly took out her wand, conjured three, slightly misshaped pillows, and launched them at Emmeline, who coward on her bed. Lily laughed, and turned to Mary and Janet. "How were your summers?" she asked, pulling on her pajamas and climbing onto her bed.

"Ok," said Janet. "A bit boring though."

"Mine wasn't," sighed Mary. "My dad has been having paranoid freak outs all summer. The disappearances are getting to such a point that he almost didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts this year."

"Is this You-Know-Who really gaining that much more power?" Emmeline asked, bewildered and sounding slightly afraid.

"Well, I guess some more wizards have gone missing, this time at the Ministry. But people go missing! I mean, there could be a thousand explanations for why they haven't shown up to work. People have personal enemies that don't want to take down the entire wizarding world." No one brought up the fact that it wasn't only Ministry officials that disappeared, and that there were plenty of non-disappearing dead bodies to be reported to the _Dailey Prophet_ lately. "I don't understand why my dad feels the need to jump to the conclusion that You-Know-Who is going attack Hogwarts. I mean, Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, right? And who could be worse than that?"

After some lighter conversation, the girls said goodnight, blew out the candles, and climbed into their four posters. Once the chatter of her roommates died down, and Lily lay back on her bed, her mind started racing. The rumours that had been in circulation since her first year were finally coming into validation. If Dumbledore was warning them to stay cautious, then the rumours had to be true. Not only that, but first the Potters and Mr. Lupin, and now Mary's parents, were nervous, if not downright scared, about this Voldemort. Lily shivered even thinking the name. If full grown wizards were starting to feel nervous, shouldn't they? And if there was a dark wizard movement in the works, surely people like the ones that Severus hung out with would be a part of that movement?

Lily shivered slightly as she remembered Severus's words: _You're just afraid of a bit of a rebellion._

It took a while, but eventually Lily fell into a fitful sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: To those who have started reviewing, I'm all verklempt. Thank you for the wonderful comments! They made my day!**

Lily awoke the next morning and walked robotically into the small bathroom attached to the dormitory. She loved the Hogwarts showers, mostly because they did all the work. The only thing she had to do was shampoo her own hair. The stone taps emitted hot water, first mixed with soap, then clear water to rinse everything off. After that, the surrounding vents would shoot out warm air until the occupant was completely dry. The entire process took five minutes tops.

As Lily went over to her trunk to take out fresh robes, she threw her slipper at the sleeping lump in the bed next to her. "Emmeline!" Lily called. "Wake up, or we're going to miss McGonagall handing out the schedules!" Emmeline sat up looking extremely frazzled, and wandered into the bathroom as if not entirely sure why she was going there. She emerged a few minutes later looking much more awake.

"Did Alice already go down to breakfast?" she asked Lily.

"She probably went with Frank," said Lily. "Are they snogging yet?"

Emmeline laughed. "No, not yet. But you're right, they should be."

Lily and Emmeline made their way down to breakfast. When they reached the marble staircase, they saw a boy with golden, wavy hair and perfect teeth emerge from the doorway that led to the Hufflepuff common room. Emmeline giggled, nudged Lily playfully, and quickened her step as if trying to get a bit closer to him. Lily waved to Severus as she passed the Slytherin table, and he smiled slightly and waved back. Perhaps things would work out after all, even if all of his friends were staring at her as if they thought she were a walking bag of rubbish.

Emmeline hadn't taken her eyes of the blonde seventh year, and as they joined Alice, Frank, James, Sirius, and Remus at the Gryffindor table, he caught sight of Emmeline's staring, smiled and winked at her. Emmeline went into a fresh fit of giggles.

"My, that Lockhart is attractive," she said, turning and stealing one more glance at him sitting at the Hufflepuff table. "His tie matches his hair perfectly."

"He probably wanted to be in Hufflepuff just for that reason," sneered Sirius. "Brainless git." James nodded in agreement.

"Where's Peter?" asked Lily, looking around and realizing that he wasn't there.

"Still asleep," said Sirius, though there was something suspicious in his voice.

"And you didn't wake him up because?" asked Lily.

"Because we rigged something up to do the waking for us," smirked James.

Lily looked miraculously at Remus, who avoided her gaze, and was trying desperately hard not to smile, a fight which he lost when Benji Fenwick, their fellow Gryffindor fifth year and the Marauders' roommate, came bursting into the hall, laughing to the point that he could barely breathe.

"What did you do?" Lily asked, rounding on James, Sirius, and Remus, who all shrugged and put on faces of fake innocence.

Benji fell into a seat next to James and patted him on the back. "You, sir," Benji said, catching his breath, "are a genius."

James turned and smiled proudly, but immediately let his smile fall off his face when he saw the look that Lily was giving him, a look which only intensified as Benji went into a recount of how, at exactly 8 a.m., Peter's bed had acted as a catapult and thrown him across the room and into the showers, where someone had turned off all of the hot water, so that Peter was drenched in an icy cold downpour. Everyone except Lily was laughing by the end of it, and when Peter came into the hall, hair still wet (the vents had mysteriously stopped working, too) Sirius and James nearly fell out of their seats laughing, and Remus's face has gone bright red in the effort it was taking to keep his composure.

Peter sat next to Lily, and even he was laughing. "Nice one, guys," he squeaked, as the owls started soaring in carrying the morning post. Lily took out her wand and started shooting hot air at Peter's head to dry it for him. "Thanks, Lily!" he said appreciatively.

Professor McGonagall came along the table not long after that in order to hand out the schedules. Lily looked down the Monday column.

"Ugh," said Sirius. "Potions with the Slytherins at nine! What a terrible way to start the week."

Lily was glad that they had potions first. She was very frustrated at James and Sirius at the moment for not being able to get through the first twenty-four hours at Hogwarts without pulling some sort of prank, and peeved at Remus for allowing them to do it. He was a prefect now, after all; he should be able to control his friends at least a little. However, Lily got the intense feeling that Remus was not as innocent as he liked to pretend to be.

When they entered the dungeons, Lily walked directly over to Severus, who had saved a place for her, ignoring the looks that Avery and Wilkes were giving her. However, they did not say anything; they were used to Lily, at least in potions, and seeing as having her in close range allowed them to cheat off of her and Severus while Slughorn wasn't looking, they didn't complain. Severus looked ecstatic when Lily walked right over to him, and James looked crestfallen.

"Lily!" boomed Slughorn, coming over to their table, "And Severus! The old, potion making duo! I trust that you will be coming to my first little gathering, a week from Friday? You'll be getting an invitation soon enough." Slughorn winked at them. She and Severus usually did their best to come up with as many excuses as possible to not attend. However, Slughorn was determined to "collect" them, along with James Potter and Sirius Black. Lily had the feeling that James would secretly love to go to the parties, but Sirius refused outright; Regulus was in the Slug Club. Remus and Peter never even received an invite, and Slughorn usually forgot their names.

"Welcome back everyone!" boomed Slughorn to the class. "Well, no point diddle dallying around, you know the drill. The potion we are going to attempt today is – " he waved his wand at the board and instructions appeared, "the Invigoration Draught. Begin." Severus and Lily chatted idly as they brewed their potions. Lily was happy to look over at James and see that he was struggling, and the smoke issuing out of his cauldron was far too thick. She smiled vindictively.

Severus smiled to see Lily look that way at James. "The world is back to normal," he said under his breath.

"What?" said Lily, looking back at him.

"Oh, nothing," he said. "Add some more ginger root, you're thinning out."

When the bell rang, Lily said goodbye to Severus, who was headed off to Ancient Runes. Lily saw James, Sirius, and Remus saying goodbye to Peter, who had Muggle Studies, but did not go over to them. Instead she joined Emmeline and Alice for the walk across the grounds for Care of Magical Creatures on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.

"Would you just stay back and let me do it?" she heard Remus's impatient voice from behind them. "You two have done enough as it is." In a few seconds, Remus had fallen into stride with them. "So, what'd you think of the first potion's class?" he tried bravely. Both Emmeline and Alice gave him friendly answers, but Lily stayed silent, clutching her books and staring straight ahead. "Oh, c'mon, Lily!" said Remus.

"'Oh, c'mon' what?" snapped Lily. "You come on! You're a prefect now, Remus! You're supposed to be exercising some control over your friends!" Lily had stopped walking and was standing, ranting rather unfairly at Remus. In her peripheral, she saw Sirius and James stop. Apparently they did not want to get any closer.

"I know," said Remus, and he truly did look guilty. "But it's not like they did any harm. It was a prank on a _friend_, a friend who was not the least bit upset, I might add." Lily stayed silent. "It's just who they are, Lily," sighed Remus, throwing his hands up. Lily chanced a glance over at Sirius and James. They both looked like puppies who had been hit over the nose with a newspaper. The corners of her mouth twitched.

"Ugh, you lot are so frustrating!" she exclaimed, but she couldn't quite get her voice to sound as angry as she was before. "Why do you care what I think, anyway?" she directed this question not only at Remus, but at James and Sirius as well. "You couldn't give a rat's ass what the rest of the school thinks."

James quickly avoided her eyes by becoming fascinated with his shoe laces, but Sirius said, walking up to her, "Believe it or not, we like you." James nodded at his feet.

Lily sighed. "Come on, then. Let's get to class."

They were studying bowtruckles. Lily smirked as she remembered the comment she made to Petunia regarding bowtruckles at the end of the summer. Lily shared one with Emmeline and Alice; they took turns holding it so the other two could sketch it on their parchment. James, Sirius, and Remus seemed to have gotten a particularly vicious bowtruckle that was determined to get either a finger or an eye by the end of class. James resorted to sitting on it at one point, which turned out to be a very bad idea.

"What are you laughing at, Evans?" he said when he noticed her sniggering as he jumped up in pain, but there was amusement in his voice, too. Remus chased down the bowtruckle, which was heading for the shadows of the forest, grabbed some spell-o-tape out of his bag, and bound the bowtruckle's arms so that they could finish sketching it.

Lily looked up and saw Emmeline smirking at her. "What?" she said, in the exact same tone as she had used on the train. Emmeline looked pointedly and James. "You two seem to be getting on extremely well this year," she said, still smirking.

"Emmeline wants to know why you and Frank aren't snogging yet, Alice," Lily said mischievously.

"Emmeline!" said Alice, going bright red.

"Lily!" said Emmeline, glaring at Lily.

"Please finish up with your sketches and place the bowtruckles back on the table, please," said Professor Kettleburn, pointing to the table with his ring finger, as both his index and middle fingers were missing. "Homework is to finish labeling your sketch, to be handed in next class."

They trudged back up the sloping lawns to the castle for lunch, only to find Severus Snape waiting on the steps up to the Entrance Hall. He was holding a small basket, and when Lily approached him, he said, "Want to eat out here today?" while indicating the basket, which she guessed he had filled with food from the Great Hall.

"We'd love to, Snivellus," said James, "but I hate greasy food, and I'm sure your hair has already covered everything in that basket." Sirius gave an appreciative snort.

"James," said Remus warningly.

"What, gonna give me a detention?"

Remus glared, turned on his heel, and stormed into the castle.

"What?" said James, clearly confused.

"Skive off, Potter," snapped Lily, and she and Snape walked down the steps and headed for the lake.

"What?" said James, now looking disappointed that he seemed to have lost the privilege of his first name again. He watched Lily's back with disbelief. "What'd I do?" he asked, turning to Sirius.

"Well," said Sirius, with the air of explaining why the sky is blue to a three-year-old, "you insulted Lily's best friend right in front of her, and insulted one of _your_ best friends in almost the same breath." James stared at him. "I can be a prat at times, too, James, so I know what it looks like. Don't tell me you didn't realize what you were doing."

"I didn't mean to make her mad," said James honestly. "She's just so confusing!"

"She's not that confusing, Prongs," Sirius said, laughing a little.

"Maybe not to you," frowned James.

"Look, just don't insult Snivelly in front of her."

"I cannot. _Believe_. You are saying this," James enunciated his disbelief.

"I said don't do it in front of _her,_ not don't do it at all! What, do you think I've lost my mind? I do have standards, you know."

"It's just," James said slowly, trying to find the right words, "when Snape's there in front of Lily, I want to do my best to make him look like an idiot."

"Yeah," countered Sirius, "but you end up making a fool out of yourself, the way you're doing it. There are other ways, you know," he said, smirking.

"Padfoot," said James, a slow grin working its way onto his face, "just what exactly are you thinking?"


	8. Chapter 8

"Remus, we need your help!" said James, skidding into the hall five minutes later. Remus, who was sitting with Peter, ignored James and stabbed a potato with particular fierceness. "Moony–"

"No! Don't 'Moony' me," snapped Remus.

"Yeah, please don't," said Sirius. "No one wants to see that."

"I'm a prefect now, James, if you haven't noticed," said Remus, ignoring Sirius.

"I did notice, and I'm sorry, Moony. You can give me as many detentions as you want, I swear," James pleaded with Remus.

"You are such an –"

"Arrogant prat, I know," sighed James. "I'm really, really sorry Remus. Next time we're in Honeydukes I'll buy you any kind of chocolate you want."

Remus thought it over for a minute. "Fine," he said. "But if what you're planning is a prank on a Slytherin, a certain Slytherin in particular, then I'm out."

"Remus!" Sirius pleaded.

"Oh, what's the plan?" squeaked Peter.

"No, I don't want to know," said Remus.

"Remus, do you honestly like the fact that Lily is friends with Snape?"

"Well, I'm sure he's a nice…" Remus looked strained as he struggled for something to say. "Who am I kidding, of course I don't like it. Have you seen the lot he hangs out with? They'd be the first to join in with Voldemort."

"Exactly," said Sirius. "So we'd really be doing her a favour in showing her how much of a fool he is."

Remus thought for a minute. "No. I'm sorry guys, but I can't. Lily is my friend, and I'm sick of getting put on her bad side because of you two." Even as Remus said it, they could tell that he would be upset if he was left out of this prank.

"How about we don't tell you the details, and you help while in the dark?" suggested James.

"Both literally and figuratively," added Sirius.

"Deal."

That night at midnight, with Remus blindfolded, and James, Sirius, and Peter jammed under James's Invisibility Cloak – being a prefect, Remus could say that he was out patrolling if they were caught; of course, he would look rather ridiculous seeing as he was blindfolded – the Marauders made their way down to the Great Hall. They were lucky, as they did not meet a single person, alive or dead, on their way, and the Great Hall was completely deserted.

Once inside, James pulled the cloak off and tossed it on the Ravenclaw table. Sirius, who had been carrying a tub of something, placed it on the Slytherin table. As he had explained to James and Peter while Remus was in the other room, the prank that they would be performing is one that he picked up off a Muggle sitcom he had seen once at the Potter's house – the Potters owned a Muggle television because they thought it was a funny contraption; the closest thing that Muggles could get to moving portraits. In the tub was a great amount of clear-drying superglue, which Sirius had enchanted so that it didn't dry until a few seconds after it made contact with an object.

He pulled four painting brushes out of his pocket, which they had nicked from Filch's broom closet, and handed one to each of his fellow Marauders. "To the first real prank of the year, boys!" he said, holding up his brush to knock against the others in a short of cheers; they had to guide Remus's brush to knock against theirs. "Let's get started."

James guided Remus's brush so that it dipped in the glue, and then directed it over to one section of the bench. "Just keep painting along here," James said, before dipping his own brush in the glue and going to work on his own section. The project went rather smoothly, with only one issue of Peter deciding it would be a good idea to sit down and rest. It took them a whole 3 minutes to detach Peter from the bench, and there was still a great hole in the bottom of his trousers.

"What happened?" asked Remus when he heard the commotion.

"Just a preview for tomorrow," sniggered James, magically removing the torn fabric from the bench and repainting over the spot with fresh, wet glue.

It didn't take long until the entirety of the Slytherin benches were covered in the invisible glue. Laughing quietly, they grabbed the glue and the brushes, threw the cloak over themselves, grabbed Remus by the arm, and went to dump the evidence in Filch's broom closet across the hall. They made it swiftly back up to their dormitory without Benji ever realizing that they hadn't yet come up for bed, as he was fast asleep when they entered.

"I can't wait to see what we did," said Remus, laughing.

"You will be entertained, indeed, Moony my friend," said James yawning and climbing into bed.

"I better look shocked. And you guys had better, too, or else Lily – "

"Oh, please," said Peter, "Who are we kidding? There's no way that she _isn't_ going to know that it was us. Or at least Sirius and James."

Peter whined as three pillows soared his way.

"Morning," said Lily when she reached the Gryffindor table. "You lot look excited," she said, noting the expressions on Sirius's, James's, and Peter's faces – Remus had worked all morning on keeping his face calm. "Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"We have the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher today," said Peter smoothly. The other Marauders looked at him in shocked pride for being able to think so quickly.

"That's right!" said Emmeline, who had just joined them, as she pulled out her schedule. "I wonder how that will go."

At ten to nine, the bell rang, signaling that everyone should head to their first class. Along with the usual chatter came the loud sounds of ripping fabric as everyone from the Slytherin table got up to leave. The Great Hall erupted with laughter as the undergarments of every Slytherin was now being shown to the entirety of the school. Even Lily let out a snort of laughter, before seeing Severus among the group of angry Slytherins and rounding on James and Sirius.

"Give me one reason why I should not go report you to McGonagall?" demanded Lily.

But neither Sirius nor James got a chance to answer, as at that moment, Severus had appeared at the Gryffindor table, wand pointing straight at James's head.

"Give me a reason, Potter," he snarled, "not to curse your head off."

"Nice undies, Snivelly," Sirius taunted, causing Severus to round on him.

"That's enough!" Professor McGonagall had just marched down from the staff table to put a stop to the commotion. "Potter, Black, Snape, detention! I'll see you in my office tonight!"

"First detention of the year," James grinned, as Severus stormed away without another word, not even to Lily. "It's kind of sentimental, isn't it?"

"You two are _never_ going to grow up!" Lily shouted, before turning on her heel and storming out of the hall.

"Seriously?" said Sirius, staring after Lily. "Didn't she _see_ the irrational way that he reacted? He was ready to kill us over a bit of glue!"

"Well, at least she didn't yell at Moony this time," said James gloomily.

Lily made sure that she was seated between Emmeline and Alice for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Mary Macdonald, their roommate, came to sit with them too, so Lily was sufficiently surrounded when the Marauders came in, giving none of them a chance to talk to her. While the girls around her chatted happily before the start of class, it seemed that they could sense her bad mood, because they did not urge her to join in the conversation, and instead they let her sit silently, glaring at the blackboard and clutching the sides of her desk.

"Good afternoon, class. My name is Professor Hobday," he had a surprisingly kind voice for a man who looked so stern. "Please take out your quills and parchment, unfortunately, today's class will simply be an overview of what to expect in this course, as well as some notes on the theory of shield spells."

It was slightly boring, but still a relatively good class. Anything was better than the joke of a professor they had the previous year. "It was all right," Remus said – Lily had opted that it would be okay to talk to Remus after class, as he did look genuinely shocked at the prank that had occurred that morning. "But if I were a teacher, I'd want to open with a practical lesson. You know, something to get the students really involved and engaged, so that they'll want to come back for the next one."

"I think you'd make a good teacher," remarked Lily.

"Yeah except for – er, my 'furry little problem,'" Remus quoted James.

"When is your next…time of the month?" asked Lily, giggling slightly.

"Ha ha," said Remus. "Not for another couple weeks."

Remus stayed walking with Lily until they got to Charms, where he situated himself between Lily and Peter, with James and Sirius on Peter's other side. Charm's was easily Lily's best subject; it was rare that it took her more than two tries to get a new spell mostly correct. The crow which she was supposed to be silencing only had the chance to crow twice before she snatched away its voice with a wave of her wand.

"Excellent, Miss Evans!" cried Professor Flitwick, whose voice was even squeakier than Peter's. "Fifteen points to Gryffindor!" Lily tried not to look too proud of herself.

Davy Gudgeon of Ravenclaw was having particular difficulty with the charm. He managed to send his toad soaring across the room. It hit a girl named Florence in the head. Sirius and James roared with laughter. Lily smirked mischievously and pointed her wand at them. "Silencio," she said, and both Sirius and James grabbed at their throats, which were refusing to make a sound. They mouthed obscenities at Lily, whose smirk only broadened. "Sorry, Professor," she said, as Professor Flitwick looked at the two boys, clearly confused. "I missed."

The bell rang, and with another wave of her wand, Sirius and James got their voices back. "There," she said, walking up to them. "We're even."

James opened his mouth to argue that she didn't have any reason to get even with them, but this time it was Remus that silenced him with his wand. Thankfully, Lily didn't notice.

"What did you do that for?" demanded James, after Lily had left the room and Remus had given him his voice back.

"And let you start another argument with Lily? I don't think so." Remus sighed and looked at Sirius and Peter, "It's going to take all three of us to help him snog her, isn't it?"

Sirius let out a great bark of laughter, and James glared at them.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: So I couldn't resist adding this bit in, because my mum has Lupus. I remember when I first read the books when I was really young, and told her about Lupin and the fact that he's a werewolf. It was my mum who first told me that "lup" meant wolf and pointed out the symptoms, and I had thought it was so cool that my mom had a wolf disease (though, really, there isn't much else cool about Lupus).**

The rest of the week went by smoothly. James and Sirius managed to stay on speaking terms with Lily, who had in turn managed not to threaten them with a single detention. They all entered the next week hopeful for a happy and peaceful semester.

Everyone except Remus, that is. As they neared the end of September, Remus started to look worse for wear. The bags under his eyes became more prominent, the pain in his muscles detracting from his ability to get a good night's sleep. Every now and then, he would cringe, and his friends, including Lily, would flinch in his direction, as if wanting to extend a comforting hand. Lily and the other Marauders were the only students in the entire school who knew about Remus's condition. Lily had never even told Severus, even though Severus suspected, and brought it up every time Remus looked sick.

"Strange isn't it?" he would say pointedly to Lily, the same way that he had been saying it since their third year. "How he always gets sick at the same time? When the moon –"

"Not really. The full moon is very powerful, Severus, haven't you been paying attention at all in Astronomy? It affects a great amount of perfectly normal wizards. Pass the eye of newt," Lily had said very quickly.

"He suspects," said Remus to Lily as they made their way to Care of Magical Creatures with James and Sirius.

"Well…yes," said Lily a bit uncomfortably. "But I haven't told him anything!"

"I know you haven't," said Remus with a weak smile, before he cringed and grabbed his side.

"This is ridiculous Moony, we're taking you to the hospital wing," said James.

"No! Don't be stupid, it isn't for another –" Remus looked at his watch, "-eight or so hours."

"Hospital wing," said Sirius, taking one of Remus's arms and pulling it over his shoulders. "Now."

"Tell Professor Kettleburn where we are, will you?" asked James, taking Remus's other arm and putting it around his shoulders in the same way that Sirius had done.

"Of course," said Lily. Again, Lily felt a rush of compassion for the Marauders.

"Is Remus okay?" asked Alice.

"Yeah, he's just sick," answered Lily.

"He gets sick a lot, doesn't he?" noted Emmeline, though she said it in a sympathetic tone, rather than a suspicious tone like the one that Severus adopted when talking about the issue.

James and Sirius showed up twenty minutes later. "Oh, good," said James, walking up to Lily, who was sitting on the ground with two bowtruckles in front of her. She was sitting apart from the other groups, as she had told Professor Kettleburn that she would be in a group with James and Sirius once they returned from the hospital wing. "We're still on bowtruckles!"

"Yeah, it's the last lesson with them, Remus won't miss much. How is he?" Lily asked.

"Stubborn as all hell," said Sirius. "We could have been down here ten minutes ago had he stopped arguing with us and Madam Pomphrey sooner."

They crouched around two bowtruckles, a male and a female. They were supposed to be observing their interaction and mating habits, but the bowtruckles didn't seem too interested in each other; the female kept looking at the male bowtruckle that the group next to them was observing.

"Are there books of Muggle diseases in the library?" said Lily suddenly.

"Yeah," said James. "I'm pretty sure there's a unit on Muggle diseases for Muggle Studies."

At lunch, Lily ate extremely quickly, told Sirius, James, and Peter that she would see them in Transfiguration, and hurried out of the hall. She was in the library within five minutes, looking up and down the section of books about Muggles. She selected _Incurable Muggle Diseases_, then ran to the Defense Against the Dark Arts section, and found a book on werewolves.

Lily sat bent over the two books, flipping through the Muggle disease book while consulting the symptoms for lycanthropy.

"Lupus!" said Lily happily. She was standing over Remus, who was in one of the Hospital Wing beds.

"Huh?" said Remus, looking very confused.

"Lupus! It's a Muggle disease, it affects the joints and the muscles of a person because the body sort of attacks itself."

"So?"

"So you have all the same symptoms! Fatigue, joint pain, skin markings. And lupus flares come on suddenly and sporadically throughout life!" Lily said excitedly.

"Lily…I don't think I have Lupus…"Remus said slowly.

Lily sighed exasperatedly and sunk into a chair next to his bed. "Remus, don't you see? This can be an excuse! You're a half-blood, and while it isn't proven that Lupus is genetic, no one here is going to know that, you can say that you got it hereditarily."

Remus sat in thought for a minute, then let out a small laugh, "Do you think they call it Lupus because of the similar symptoms? I mean, 'lup' is the Latin root for wolf, which is extremely ironic, given my last name." Remus smiled. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. I'll start telling people I have Lupus." He gave another laugh at the idea, and cringed in pain. "Thanks, Lily."

Sirius, James, and Peter could not stop laughing when Lily had told them her idea about Lupus. At first she thought they were laughing _at_ her idea, so she snapped, "Well, you come up with a better idea, then!"

"No, Lily, it's brilliant!" said Sirius, getting himself under control. "I'm laughing because it's so completely ridiculous, but brilliant. I have no doubt that everyone is going to believe it."

"People are thick," said James, laughing appreciatively, while Peter nodded.

"Well, I think we're going to visit Remus before bed," said James, getting up.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Lily. "it's eight o'clock. The full moon is up."

"Oh, yeah – uh – I forgot it was tonight, and not tomorrow," James said quickly.

"Speaking of thick people," Sirius muttered under his breath.

Lily went to bed close to midnight. Not soon after, the Marauders were sneaking out of the tower under the Invisibility Cloak – "We're too big for this," Sirius complained, "I can't wait for Peter to be able to transform completely into a rat, then only two of us will have to cram under here." – and traveled to the fourth floor. They turned down a corridor where there was a huge mirror at the end; James took out his wand and tapped the mirror in three different places around the frame. Then the three of them stepped through the glass. The passageway behind the mirror was very large and lined with candelabras, which Sirius quickly lit with a wave of his wand. If they followed the passage, it would lead them to the store room of the Three Broomsticks pub, but that was not their destination tonight. They used this passageway to practice becoming animagi.

They were in unanimous agreement that the time when Remus had to go through his transformations alone was over. They were sick of seeing their friend so depressed. They stayed in the passageway until three a.m., and by that time, Sirius and James had managed to stay in their animal forms for over an hour without any difficulties, and Peter had managed to do the transformation all on his own. By a month from now, they would be ready.

Remus was not in classes the following day. It usually took him at least two days to recover; this time, it took him five. In that time, Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter had all managed to spread the rumour that Remus had been diagnosed, at last, with Lupus.

"Lupus?" Severus scoffed. Lily nodded. She was under the distinct impression that Severus wanted so to uncover Remus's secret just so Lily would not want to be friends with him anymore. Well, he was sorely mistaken, Lily thought.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Fun fact – the very end of this chapter (and the beginning of the next) was the very first scene I imagined before starting to write this. It's still among my favourites.**

The coursework for the fifth years was reaching an incredibly difficult amount as October began. "Your O.W.L.s are looming ever nearer," said Professor McGonagall one day during class, when Mary Macdonald had nearly burst into tears from stress. "The work will only get more difficult."

"Great," sighed Remus.

"You two look exceptionally calm," remarked Emmeline one day of James and Sirius while waiting outside the classroom for Defense Against the Dark Arts to begin.

"Well, it's all common sense, really," said James.

"Yeah, and some wand waving," agreed Sirius. "Nothing too much to stress about."

Lily rolled her eyes at them. It was very annoying how easily everything came to them.

"Says the girl who masters charms on the first try," said James, noticing Lily's expression.

"That's only one subject," blushed Lily.

"And what about potions? Slughorn adores you."

"Yeah, but I owe that to Severus," Lily admitted, and James immediately changed the subject.

When they were all seated, Professor Hobday stood and addressed the class in his normal, quiet, and subdued way. They rarely had practical lessons; when they did, Hobday, despite his appearance, was not stern enough to keep his students under control. More often than not, the room would erupt into chaos as James and Sirius did their best to show off.

So today, like most days, was expected to be just a lecture.

"Has everyone seen the article that was printed in the _Dailey Prophet_ this morning?" asked Hobday.

No one said anything. The class eyed each other guiltily; they all knew that they should keep up with current events. However, it seemed that no one in the class, not even Lily, had seen the article. Lily had forgotten to renew her subscription to the _Prophet_ and never got around to doing it.

"Well, I must say that I am disappointed," said Hobday, frowning slightly. "Especially after everything that Dumbledore said in his start of year speech, I would have expected each and every one of you to take a greater interest in the goings on of the wizarding world today. Well, no matter. I will read it to you.

"'_You-Know-Who Gathers Followers_. As You-Know-Who continues his rise to power, loyal supporters of the cause are gathering together. At the heart of these supporters seem to be You-Know-Who's very assistants to the reign of terror that he is beginning to impose on our world.

"'Sightings of groups of wizards and witches wearing dark robes and masks concealing their identities are beginning to make appearances in public places, cursing anyone and everyone who attempts to get in their way. Last Saturday, approximately four Ministry employees were injured, and two Muggle passerbies killed due to these groups.

"'On several occasions similar to this, witnesses have heard these masked supporters of You-Know-Who refer to themselves as _Death Eaters_. These Death Eaters likely make up You-Know-Who's inner circle of supporters. They act as his hit men and his servants.

"'Hanging above each of these incidents of attacks, in which there has always been at least one death, is the grotesque image of an emerald skull in the sky, with a serpent protruding from its mouth.

"'We at the _Dailey Prophet _write this to encourage everyone to be alert of these happenings. If you come across any masked wizards or witches please alert the Ministry of Magic immediately. If the sign of the emerald skull, which is believed to be You-Know-Who's mark, is hanging above any building, the Ministry urges you not to enter the establishment, and again to alert the Ministry straight away."

Hobday held the paper up for the class to see. Under the bold headline was a black and white picture of a ghostly skull, with a snake slithering unpleasantly out of its mouth. "The woman who took this picture and wrote this article was found dead this morning." The class was silent. Every face was slightly paler than before.

"I read this to you not to scare you," said Hobday, folding the paper and placing it back in his briefcase, "but to alert you. Professor Dumbledore has asked me to make sure that I keep my students updated on the happenings of our world. If ever there was a time that you needed to be prepared and know how to defend yourself against the dark arts, it is now.

"I expect you all to start reading the _Dailey Prophet_. If you do not all wish to get a separate subscription, I advise becoming a friend with someone who already has one, or chipping in with a group to order one."

They spent the rest of the class learning the theory behind the Stunning Spell, in preparation for the practical lesson they would have for the following class. Lily, along with every one of her fellow students, listened more intently than she had all year to Hobday's lecture. His words had inspired a new fire in them all.

"I want to renew my subscription," said Lily simply as she left the classroom. The Marauders, along with her dorm mates, agreed immediately to help pay for the paper.

It had been two weeks since Lily and Severus had been able to have their weekly potions experimenting Thursdays in the dungeons, because of all the homework they had been receiving. Finally, there had been enough of a lull in the homework that Lily said she could meet Severus in Slughorn's classroom that night. Slughorn never minded lending the room and his personal stores to his prized potions students.

"However, you must promise to come to my next Slug Club meeting! I noticed neither of you managed to come to the first one," he wagged his finger playfully at them. "Halloween, after the feast. Wear a costume! And bring a date!"

"Ugh," said Severus after Slughorn had left, and Lily busied with lighting the fire under the cauldron. "I can't believe he made us promise to go to that. I'm not wearing a costume."

"I don't know," said Lily thoughtfully, "it could be fun. Maybe I'll ask Remus if he wants to tag along…"

Severus looked highly alarmed. "Why?" he demanded.

"Because he's my friend," Lily laughed.

"But we always go together when we're forced into Slug Club meetings."

"Breathe, Sev," said Lily. "Of course we'd still go together. But Slughorn said to bring a date, and seeing as how Remus isn't part of the Slug Club, I thought he might want to come along. There is no other reason than that," Lily added, raising her voice slightly and talking slowly. "Though if there was," she said, avoiding his eye, "it really wouldn't be any of your business."

Severus looked like he had just been slapped in the face. "Oh," he said simply.

Lily quickly backtracked."Sev, it's not that –"

"No, it's okay, I get it," Severus was saying quickly, and in a strained sort of voice.

"Did you bring the book?" asked Lily, with the air of wanting to change the subject.

"Yeah," said Severus, adopting the same tone. Severus pulled a thick potions book that read _Advanced Potion Making_ from his bag. "What should we try tonight?"

They spent two hours messing about with potions. When they discovered something useful, Severus would learn over the book and write tiny notes in the margins with his cramped scrawl. When ten o'clock rolled around, they started packing up.

"Goodnight, Sev," Lily said as she flung her bag on her shoulder.

"Goodnight, Lily," Severus said quietly.

They parted ways, and Lily felt the distinct impression that, again, there was something changing between them. She couldn't pretend that she didn't know about Severus's feeling toward her anymore; she also could not pretend that she felt the same way about him. Lily loved Severus, she truly did, he was like family to her; but she was not _in_ love with him. Sometimes she wished she could be, though; and she did try, during their previous year, to look at Severus the same way that he looked at her; but she couldn't do it. He felt too much like her brother. She imagined that it hurt nearly as much to not be in love with Severus as it hurt Severus to be in love with her.

Lily was so lost in thought that she found herself on the fourth floor with barely any recollection of walking up four flights of stairs. She stopped for a minute to make sure she knew where she was going, and was just about to continue onward when she heard voices down the corridor to her left. She dashed behind a suit of armor and listened closely.

"-can't believe how far you guys have come!" a voice was saying. A voice that Lily realized a second later belonged to Remus. "Do you really think you'll be ready by the upcoming full moon?"

"I really think so," said James. "I thought it would take longer to become good at this whole animagi thing, but I've never felt more comfortable transforming into a stag-"

"WHAT?" Lily had half jumped, half fallen, out from behind the suit of armor.

All of the Marauders jumped. For a millisecond, the world froze, with Lily and the Marauders staring incredulously at each other. Then Sirius, clearly panicked, pointed his wand at Lily and yelled, "Stupify!"

Lily's world went dark.


	11. Chapter 11

It was a good thing that James had such good reflexes; he caught Lily before she hit the floor. "What did you do that for!" he yelled at Sirius.

"I didn't know what else to do!" said Sirius honestly.

"Shhhh," said Remus, "you'll wake half the castle!" He took a piece of parchment out of his pocket and unfolded it. It was not a complete map; all that was on it were the rough sketches of each floor of the castle, with unlabeled dots, representing the inhabitants, roaming around various places. They had, however, managed to make their own dots a different colour, so that they could tell if a non-Marauder was coming their way. "We're clear," he said, after consulting the rough map.

"Yeah, great, check the map _now,_" said James sarcastically.

"Should we revive her here?" asked Peter, looking at the limp form of Lily in James's arms. "Maybe we can convince her it was a dream…"

"No, Lily's smarter than that," said Remus. "Let's bring her back to the dormitory. We'll have to fill her in." James mouthed noiselessly. He clearly did not like the idea.

"Here," said Sirius, "pick her up, I'll throw the cloak over you. Remus, make sure no one's coming."

"Not a soul," said Remus, "with or without a body."

They made it back to the dormitory without an issue, and James covered with the invisibility cloak and holding tight to Lily – whose hair smelled intoxicating – carefully climbed through the portrait hole. Thankfully, Benji was immersed in homework up to his ears, literally, and didn't look as if he'd be done for hours.

"That's what you get for procrastinating," Sirius scolded jokingly as they passed him. They went up to the boys' dormitory, for the obvious reason they couldn't physically climb up the girls' staircase without it turning into a slide; the Hogwarts Founders did not believe boys trustworthy enough to enter the girls' dormitory.

Once they had climbed to the top of the tower and were in their room, Remus closed the door and magically locked it, just in case Benji decided to come up early. James put Lily on his bed as Sirius pulled to cloak off of them.

"Ready?" said Remus, walking over to James's bed.

"Wait!" said Peter. "What are we going to say?"

Remus shrugged, "The truth, I guess."

James looked positively horrified at the idea, but didn't say anything to dispute it. He didn't know what else they could do. "It'll be okay, Prongs," said Sirius comfortingly. "We won't let the ginger attack you."

"Okay," Remus sighed. "One…two…three…_enervate_," he said as he pointed his wand at Lily. Her eyes fluttered for a minute, and James smiled. She looked beautiful when she was waking up.

Then Lily sat up abruptly and yelled, "WHAT?" again, making James scream, and fall backwards over Peter's trunk and onto his bed.

Lily looked very confused. "Why am I in the boys' dormitory?" she said.

"You were dreaming?" Peter tried.

"No I wasn't," said Lily, and it was clear that she was quickly remembering what had happened. "You!" she said, pointing suddenly to James, who cowered on Peter's bed. "You said that you turned into a stag!"

"Lily, give us a chance to explain," said Remus calmly, sitting on the bed next to Lily. Lily looked as if she wanted to yell some more, but looking too shocked for words, she simply nodded silently.

"James, Peter, and I are becoming illegal animagi so that we can sneak out during the full moon and keep Remus company," Sirius said.

Lily looked like she was going to pass out. "What?" she said, but very quietly this time, as if the mere word had exhausted her.

James swallowed, and said, still from the safety of Peter's bed, using one of his pillows like a shield, "A werewolf is only harmful to humans. So we figured, if we became animals, we could at least go and sit with Remus in the Shrieking Shack, just so he won't have to go through it alone anymore. We've even figured out how to communicate."

Too their immense shock and slight horror, Lily burst into tears.

"Lily, don't cry!" said James, getting up immediately and going over to sit next to Lily. He tried putting his hand over hers, but she slapped him away, before turning and crying into Remus's shoulder. James glared Killing Curses at Remus, who looked back at him in a it's-not-my-fault kind of way.

"What's wrong, Lily?" Remus asked kindly, patting her on the back.

"It's j-just I've been r-really emotional lately," she sobbed.

"Really? We hadn't noticed," said Sirius sarcastically.

"S-s-sorry," Lily sobbed. "Only, what with issues with Severus and everything, I feel like my life is falling apart. But what you guys are doing for Remus is just the k-kindest thing I've ever heard!" she threw herself into Remus's shoulder again. Sirius looked as if he were doing everything in his power not to laugh.

"So…you're not angry at us? You aren't going to turn us in?" James asked.

"Of course not!" Lily said, sitting up again and leaning away from Remus. She looked angry at the fact that they would think she could do such a thing. "I want Remus to be happy, too." Fresh tears ran down her face, and James noticed Peter getting a little bleary eyed. "Damn it!" Lily exclaimed, making them all jump. "I hate being so bloody emotional! I never cry in front of people! Somebody sedate me!"

Sirius picked up his wand. "Give me that," said James exasperatedly, and he threw Sirius's wand onto Benji's bed. "No more stunning for you. Bad dog."

Twenty minutes later, there was no need to stun Lily, but Remus had given her a bar of chocolate from the stash in his trunk, which she ate thankfully, and leaned back on James's bed, starting to calm down.

"What is it with chocolate?" said Sirius, staring incredulously as it seemed to work, easing Lily's mind.

"Well, it's a sort of artificial happiness," stated Remus thoughtfully. "There are certain chemicals in the cocoa bean which release endorphins into the brain, and gives the person eating it the sense that they are happy, content, and loved, or even in love. That's why it's such a good remedy after a being around a dementor; a dementor sucks out happiness, so you fill yourself with artificial happiness. I find that it helps with non-dementor related sadness, as well, though," added Remus, gesturing to Lily.

"You _would_ be a good teacher, Moony," said James.

Lily, mouth full of chocolate, suddenly slapped her forehead with her free hand and swallowed.

"What's up?" said James, looking alarmed.

"I just realized that your nicknames make sense!" said Lily incredulously, and the Marauders laughed. "Seriously!" said Lily, and she was laughing, too. "I mean, I obviously got Moony, but the others I just had to guess."

"Why did you think I was called Padfoot?" Sirius asked, chortling.

"I dunno, some kind of strange foot disease?" Lily nearly doubling over with laughter, while James, Remus, and Peter roared.

"What did you come up with for Prongs?" James asked interestedly, but he didn't get a chance to answer (_Thank Merlin,_ Lily thought) as at that moment there was commotion at the door, and the handle was jiggling.

"Guys!" came Benji's voice. "Why's the door locked?"

James hastily grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and threw it over Lily. "Potter," she protested, "I don't think he's going to be fooled if I'm just covered with an old, shiny cloak."

"Just stay under there and keep quiet," muttered James, as Remus unlocked the door with his wand.

"Sorry," Remus said as Benji entered, "we were practicing some spells, we must have hit the lock on accident at some point."

Benji shrugged as if he didn't care and went over to dump his books on his bed. "I'm exhausted," he said, throwing Sirius's wand to him after spotting it lying on his pillow. "If the teachers assign this much homework next week, it'll kill me."

"Don't worry," Sirius said happily. "I'm sure it will be a different amount next week. Granted, there'll be more of it, but it won't be the same amount."

Benji, who had flopped down on his bed, looked as if he wanted to throw something at Sirius, but also looked as if he were too tired to do so.

"Oh!" said James suddenly. "I just remembered that I borrowed this from Lily," he looked around hastily and picked up her wand, which had slid out of Lily's pocket while she was sitting on James's bed. Thankfully, Benji didn't look up to see what it was that James had supposedly borrowed, because James could not think of a reason that he would have borrowed another person's wand in the first place.

James reached over and grabbed Lily's invisible arm through the cloak, and led her from the room. When they had closed the door and gone half way down the spiral staircase, James turned around and pulled to cloak off Lily.

"You have an Invisibility Cloak, too?" Lily said incredulously. "Are there any other secrets I should know about?"

"No others that I really want to tell you about right now," said James, grinning.

"What am I going to do with you, Potter?" sighed Lily.

"I can think of a few things," said James, his grin broadening.

Lily slapped him, though not anywhere nearly as hard as she usually did, took her wand from James, and continued down the spiral staircase to the common room.

James watched her leave feeling very happy with himself for not managing to screw things up too badly this time.


	12. Chapter 12

The full moon was at the start of the third week in October, and anticipation among the Marauders mounted as the fateful Monday drew nearer. Though Sirius and Peter were skeptical to let Lily completely into their plans – "She already knows we're animagi!" argued Sirius – James thought she could be useful – "Exactly, which means we have an extra set of eyes that we weren't planning on before!"

In the end, they decided to tell her about the full plan. "Tomorrow night," James was saying quietly in the corner of the library that he, Lily, Sirius, and Peter were crowded in (Remus was already in the hospital wing), "Peter is the first to transform. He can easily get through the castle as a rat, unnoticed. Sirius and I will follow in the Invisibility Cloak. That's where you come in," he said, turning to Lily, who had a set expression on her face – she was going to help Remus, whether it meant breaking the rules or not.

"At quarter to eight," James continued, "you'll come through the portrait hole, and Sirius and I will sneak past you. We don't need the Fat Lady looking like she's swinging open off her own accord, people will start to get suspicious."

So at half past seven, James and Sirius headed up to their dormitory under the pretense of doing homework in a quiet space. Fifteen minutes later, they snuck down under the Invisibility Cloak in order to wait by the portrait hole. Peter had transformed already and snuck out unnoticed when Frank Longbottom had entered the common room ten minutes before. At exactly quarter to eight, the portrait hole swung open again, and Lily appeared, apparently taking her time to tie her shoelace, as Sirius and James crept through into the corridor outside.

"Good luck," Lily whispered as they passed. She was worried about them; Potter had finally started to grow on her; it would be a terrible shame if Remus ate him. She stood in thought for a moment, then turned to go out the portrait hole again.

"Lily?" said an uncertain voice. Lily turned and saw Alice looking at her strangely.

"What?" Lily said, confused.

"You left the common room ten minutes ago, then came back just now, stood there for a minute staring at your shoes, and now you are turning around to leave again?"

"Oh," said Lily, looking around. "Well, I just thought I'd go see what Severus is up to."

"Wouldn't he be in his common room?"

"I…don't know," Lily realized that she was sounding very strange, but for some reason couldn't make herself stop talking. "He's probably in the library, so I'm going to go now…and find him."

"Lily, are you okay?" asked Alice in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lily tried to reassure her. "I just feel like going and finding Severus."

And so, for the second time in fifteen minutes, Lily exited the common room and headed for the library. She zoned out as she was walking, and hoped that she wouldn't stumble upon another group of rowdy teenage boys who were studying illegally to transform into animals…

"Watch where you are going!" said an angry voice, as Lily walked straight into Madam Pince, the very creepy librarian.

"Oh, sorry –" Lily said distractedly. She wandered into the back corner of the library, and there, surrounded by stacks of books and up to his eyes in parchment, was Severus.

"Lily," he said when he saw her. He looked slightly alarmed at the sight of her.

"What's wrong?" said Lily instantly, shifting some books so that she could sit beside him.

"Nothing," he said, looking hastily back at his parchment.

Lily covered the parchment with her hand. "I know that it isn't nothing."

Severus sighed, put down his quill, and looked up. "Things are…tense…" Lily nodded her head, encouraging him to go on. "…Between us…" he finished, a little lamely.

"Yeah," Lily said, letting out a long sigh. "I always scoffed when people said Gryffindors and Slytherins can never be friends."

"But now -?" Severus said in alarm.

"No!" said Lily quickly. "I didn't mean that! I just meant that…well, it is hard. I mean, you have your dark – I mean, other Slytherin friends now –"

"And you have the 'Marauders'," it was clear by his tone that he was mocking them. "Why aren't you with them tonight, anyway?"

"I wanted to see you," Lily said defensively, and with a little anger. "Why aren't you with your _friends_ tonight?" asked Lily in the same mocking tone Severus had used for the Marauders.

"I just – needed a break, I guess," he said, looking away from Lily and at the ground.

"Understandable. So…what are you working on?" said Lily with the air of wanting to change the subject.

"Ancient Runes," Severus said darkly. "These translations are bloody horrible."

Lily smiled at him, and he half smiled back. "Well, let me see," she said, scooting next to him so as to get a closer look at the book that was open in Severus's lap. Lily did not even take Ancient Runes, which Severus knew very well, and there was no way should would be able to help him; but still he leaned closer to Lily so she could see the book clearly.

* * *

><p>Lily was back in the common room again one hour later. She was allowed to be out after regular hours, as she was a prefect, but she was worried about Severus getting back to his common room without getting caught. When she entered her own common room, she saw that it was still full of her fellow Gryffindors. Feeling that there was no way she could sleep anyway, as her thoughts were still with the Marauders, she went upstairs to get her homework, and brought it down to an empty table.<p>

As the last couple hours ticked away until midnight, the common room began to empty. At half past twelve, Lily was the only one left, but she still didn't go up to bed. She wanted to know how the night went the second James, Sirius, and Peter got back. At three in the morning, when she had finished all of her homework for the coming week, she felt her head droop as she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>"Should we wake her?"<p>

"Maybe we should carry her up to her dormitory?"

"Oh, fabulous idea, Peter. Except that last time I checked, we all have male genitalia."

"When did you check me? Unless I was sleeping. You pervert!"

"Shut up, James."

"Wait, did you check Peter? Peter, is there something you need to tell us?"

Lily still had her eyes closed; her head was resting on her arms in front of her. She could hear voices – very loud voices, it seemed, around her. "Oh, shut up, the lot of you," she mumbled.

"Look at that!" said James, turning angrily to Sirius. "You woke her up!"

"Well at least we don't have to check to see if Peter's a woman," Sirius shrugged.

"How did it go?" said Lily, suddenly alert, and sitting up straight so quickly that it made the three boys jump.

"Really well, actually," said Peter grinning.

"Went off without a hitch," said Sirius.

"We would have stayed until sunrise, but we do have classes in the morning, and Remus was getting pretty tired himself," said James, yawning. "He seemed better though. I mean, I've obviously never met him in his wolf state before, but he said he was better. He said we helped calm his mind." James looked hopeful that Lily may burst into tears again, and sat next to her with his arms open.

"What are you doing, Potter?" she said, looking at his outstretched arms in confusion and suspicion.

"Er…in case you needed comforting," James said uncertainly.

"I'm off to bed," said Lily, as if he hadn't answered. "I'm glad everything went well, but I hope this means that you won't let your guard down next time. Remus may be somewhere inside that wolf's body, but a he isn't himself at the full moon. Be careful." And with that, she turned on her heel and marched upstairs.

"Thanks, mum!" Sirius called after her sarcastically. Lily ignored him.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** **Here's a fairly long chapter, but I didn't want to break it up. Plus, the fact that this fell at chapter 13 and it's the Halloween chapter is just too perfect.**

Lily didn't see much of the Marauders outside of classes and mealtimes over the next couple weeks. However, she did discover that Remus had recovered quicker than ever, so it seemed that having his friends there during his transformations _did_ help him to be at ease; however, as their O. approached, the homework load began to grow. This coupled with the start of Quidditch practice meant that hardly anyone off the team saw James at all.

"Dana is working us mad!" James said after practice one day, slumped in a chair in the common room, and too exhausted to muster up any real indignation behind his words. " I'm never going to get all of this work done!" cried James, gesturing at the piles of books in front of him.

"I still don't understand why the teachers have become such nutters already," Sirius said in exasperation. "It's only October!"

"The OWLs are going to determine our future jobs," said Lily from a couple chairs over. "They're extremely important. The teachers are just trying to get us prepared."

"Still," said James, "you would think they'd lighten up a little for a holiday!"

Halloween was only a few days away. This jogged something in Lily's memory. "Remus!" she said suddenly. Remus, who had been absorbed in his Arithmancy homework, looked up at her. "Do you want to come to Slughorn's party with me on Halloween?"

James looked a mixture between furious and sick. Remus looked alarmingly between James and Lily. "Er…" was all he managed to say.

"It wouldn't be a date!" said Lily hurriedly. "It's just…Slughorn can be a bit of a jerk about who he invites…and I thought you might want to come, because Sirius and James are already invited and such."

"But we never actually _go!"_ exclaimed James.

"Yeah, actually, I would like to come," said Remus, ignoring the sputtering sounds coming from James. "Is it formal?"

"Well, he said costumes. But I don't think that's a necessity. At least I hope not, I have no idea what I would go as." Lily just noticed Peter looking slightly downtrodden. "Peter!" she said suddenly. "I completely forgot that Slughorn…"

"Don't worry about it," said Peter, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"You won't be alone, Wormtail," said Sirius. "I'm not going. I refuse to complete Slughorn's 'Black family set.'"

"Are you talking about the Slughorn party?" Emmeline had just entered the room a few moments before. "Well, I haven't got a date yet. Do you want to come as my plus one, Peter?"

Peter looked delighted, and Lily noticed that Sirius took a quick double take, and had gone a shade paler than usual. "Yeah, I'd love to!" squeaked Peter.

"Why do you two look so upset?" said Emmeline in surprise to James and Sirius. "You always get invited to Slughorn's parties."

"But we never actually go!" protested Sirius, repeating James's earlier words.

"Well, it looks like you'll be coming this time, doesn't it?" said Peter. "You don't want to miss out on all the fun, do you?"

James and Sirius only grunted in response.

"Right," said Emmeline, turning to Lily. "So, what are you going as?" she asked excitedly.

"I don't know," said Lily. "I've never dressed up for Halloween in the wizarding world before."

"What did you go as in the Muggle world?" said James in a very controlled voice. It seemed staying on speaking terms with Lily was more important to him at the moment than shooting one of his best friends through the heart with a silver bullet.

"Well, actually, I always went as a witch," Lily answered with a small laugh.

"You could go as a Muggle!" said Peter excitedly.

Lily laughed. "No, I don't think so."

"Oh, we'll think of something," said Emmeline, but Lily wasn't sure she liked the tone in her voice.

* * *

><p>As Friday the 31st fast approached, Halloween excitement filled the air, as did the bats that Dumbledore had set loose to fly around the Great Hall. At least one hundred jack-o-lanterns of all different sizes floated around the hall, too, mixing with the regular candles and bumping into one another. Professor Flitwick had surprised the 5th years the previous class by telling them that they were to practice Carving Charms on pumpkins, which were placed on each desk.<p>

Sirius carved a face with a great hooked nose, then conjured a knife and stabbed it into the finished pumpkin; James made one of himself, flying on a broom; Remus did a wonderful job of carving the silhouette of a wolf howling at the moon; Peter's hardly resembled a face at all, as he wasn't very good with charms.

Lily stared up at her own jack-o-lantern; it was currently floating above the Gryffindor table, which was laden with more sweets than usual, and the usual white tablecloth was swapped for a festive orange and black one. Her pumpkin showed a detailed Hogwarts Crest of the Lion, Serpent, Raven, and Badger entwined around the letter H.

"Excited for the party tonight?" asked James, helping himself to his fourth plate of Halloween feast.

"Not really, I hate Slughorn's parties, but Sev and I have skived off the last couple, and seeing as he lets us use his classroom every Thursday—"

"For what?" James said loudly, cutting her off.

"I've told you before, Potion making!" Lily said angrily. "Is it completely impossible for a wizard and a witch to be best friends without—"

"Yes," said James, Peter, Remus, Sirius, and Emmeline all at once. Lily stared incredulously at Emmeline for betraying her, but Emmeline simply shrugged, said "It's true," and continued to eat.

"But I'm friends with you lot," Lily protested, gesturing to Sirius, Peter, and Remus. James gave a sarcastic laugh. "And I don't want to date any of you."

James suddenly dropped his fork and looked ecstatic. "So you would consider dating me? I mean, we aren't friends? It's not too late, we can still go to Slughorn's party together!"

"Skive off, Potter," said Lily, glaring into her food, but she had gone slightly red.

The Hogwarts Ghosts were the entertainment of the evening – with the absence of Peeves the Poltergeist – and they stood in front of the staff table, singing in beautiful four part harmony. The Bloody Baron made a surprisingly fantastic tenor. As they finished their last song, the Great Hall burst into applause, and the plates cleared.

"Come on, Lily!" said Emmeline excitedly. "Time to get ready!" Emmeline had apparently discovered the perfect costume idea for Lily, but refused to tell her what it was. Emmeline grabbed Lily's wrist and dragged her from the hall. Lily groaned.

"See you in the common room in an hour," Lily said miserably to the Marauders as she was being dragged away. They seemed to be up the stairs, through the portrait hole, and into their dormitory in no time.

"It's in there," Emmeline said, pointing into the bathroom.

Lily walked into the bathroom as if walking to her doom. However, upon seeing the costume hanging on the door, she couldn't help but let out a small, "Oh!" It was a short, green dress, which looked to be made entirely out of leaves, but as Lily felt it, she discovered that it was simply extremely elegant and detailed fabric. Protruding out of the back of the dress were long, thin, shear wings that gave off a slight sparkle. Lily pulled on the costume gingerly, as if afraid it might break, and walked back into the dormitory.

"You made this?" Lily gasped, looking at herself in the mirror.

Emmeline's reflection shrugged behind her. "It isn't that big of a deal," she said. "I'm good with this kind of stuff."

"Is it too short?" Lily asked worriedly; she wasn't used to short skirts.

"Relax," said Emmeline, rolling her eyes. "It's just above your knee. The only reason I didn't make it shorter was because I knew you would say that. Real fairy's barely wear anything at all."

Lily's eyes seemed to be a shade brighter than usual, which was saying something. He red hair contrasted perfectly with the dress as it fell about her shoulders. "Anyway," said Lily, tearing her gaze away from her own reflection and turning to Emmeline, "what are you going as?"

Emmeline looked excited and pulled a shimmering, beautiful white dress out of her trunk. "I made this a while ago, but haven't had any place to wear it. I'm going as a Veela," Emmeline beamed, letting down her blonde hair.

"Here," said Lily, smiling and pulling out her wand. She walked behind Emmeline, and performed complex waves of her wand around Emmeline's hair, holding her eyes closed as if in extreme concentration. Emmeline's hair grew down passed her waist; Lily opened her eyes and smiled. With one more wave of her wand, Emmeline's hair turned to a shimmering, platinum blonde that matched the dress perfectly.

Emmeline gasped as she looked at herself in the mirror. "It's perfect!"

The two girls spent the rest of the time looking up spells to make their eyelashes darker, or their lips redder. "I'm not used to doing stuff like this," Lily said, curling her eyelashes around her wand. "But – and don't you dare ever mention a word of this to the Marauders or Severus – it's kind of fun."

Emmeline giggled. "There's nothing wrong with being a bit girly every now and then. You can still be intimidating. Actually, you can probably be more intimidating because they won't be expecting it," she said as she drew her wand around her lips, making them flush deeper. "But you're right, I wouldn't be able to do this every day. I'd rather sleep in."

Finally ready, the two girls descended the spiral staircase into the common room. The boys were already waiting for them. "Wow," said Remus as they entered. "You both look amazing!" James looked speechless, and Lily couldn't help but blush a little. Remus noticed Lily looking strangely at the toga he had craftily made from a bed sheet, with a fake galleon used as the fastener at the shoulder. "I'm Romulus," he said proudly, and Lily laughed. "Thank you!" Remus said, glaring around at the others, "None of _them_ got it!"

"I still don't," said Peter.

"Romulus and Remus were the names of the twin brothers who founded Rome," explained Lily, still taking in Remus's costume. "It was said they were raised by a wolf." The Marauders and Lily all laughed loudly, and Emmeline looked very confused.

"Why is that funny?" she asked, looking around at them all.

"No reason," said Peter quickly. Lily turned to look at Peter and saw that he was wrapped from head to foot in—

"Toilet paper," said James proudly. "It was my idea. We thought he'd make a good mummy."

"And we thought it'd be fun to wrap him in toilet paper," said Sirius grinning.

But Lily did not laugh at Peter's costume. She had just noticed what Sirius and James were wearing. They had apparently snuck into the laundry and stolen two pairs of Slytherin robes; James had added some purple makeup under his eyes to make him resemble a zombie – but it was Sirius that really grabbed her attention. Sirius had glued a large, plastic bird's beak over his nose, and seemed to have run a great amount of grease through his hair, so that it hung in limp curtains, framing his face.

"Black!" Lily said angrily.

"What?" said Sirius, but even he couldn't feign innocence in this situation. He was clearly dressed up like Severus Snape, and Potter must have been one of the other Slytherins, possibly Avery.

"C'mon, Remus," said Lily, taking Remus's hand and storming toward the portrait hole.

"I told you it was a bad idea," Remus muttered to James and Sirius as he passed, but James hadn't heard him. He was staring at Remus's and Lily's enclosed hands.

Slughorn's office was on the third floor. Even though he was the head of Slytherin house, he declined using the office in the dungeons; it was much smaller, and Slughorn liked having windows. When they entered the room, they saw that it had been magically stretched to an even bigger size, and the walls were draped with tapestries, giving the impression that they had just entered a large tent. The lights were giving off dark purple and orange tints, and there were Halloween decorations everywhere.

It was not only students who came to Slughorn's parties. There were plenty of famous witches and wizards, who had been taught by Slughorn when they had been at Hogwarts; not to mention a great amount of non-human creatures which Slughorn had made alliances with over the years. Almost everyone was wearing costumes, and it became difficult to discern who was a witch or wizard, and who was a magical creature.

"Lily!" Slughorn was carving a large path in the crowd as he made his way toward her. He was dressed as a fortune teller, and had a large turban on his head with a jewel imbedded in it. "I'm so glad you've come! I've just seen Severus, he's around here somewhere. And who is this?" he asked, his eyes falling on Remus.

"Remus Lupin," said Remus, staring at him, dumbfounded. "I'm in your potions class…"

"Ah, yes," said Slughorn, with a sudden look of remembering. Then he turned abruptly back to Lily. "Would you like me to introduce you to –"

"No thanks, Professor," said Lily quickly. "Er, maybe in a few minutes. I told Sevreus I'd go find him once I got here."

"Of course," said Slughorn. "And lovely costume, might I add." He turned and disappeared into the crowd.

Lily tuned to Remus, "You can go with Potter and Black, if you want. You don't have to stay with me, I'm just your excuse to be here. I'm sorry I dragged you into it."

"You mean literally dragged me to the party, or dragged me into the fight?" Remus joked. "Lily, you're my friend too, and I came here with you. James and Sirius can get by on their own for a little while. Let's go find Severus." Lily grinned, grabbed Remus by the hand once more, and led him through the crowd in pursuit of her best friend.

"Oops, sorry," said Remus, as he accidently walked into somebody as they fought their way across the room.

The first year tuned slowly to see who had run into him. "You are forgiven," said the boy. He had a very pale face, and as he spoke, they saw that his canines were longer and pointier than the average wizard's.

"Hey, kid, nice costume!" said a passing student.

"I am not adorned with a costume," said the boy. He had a surprisingly low voice for an eleven year old.

"Excuse me," said Lily cautiously, suddenly remembering the boy from the Sorting, "but, are you by any chance Lorcan?"

"I am Lorcan d'Eath."

"Hi, I'm Lily, and this is Remus," said Lily, holding out her hand, which Lorcan simply looked at.

"Well, it was nice meeting you," said Remus hurriedly, grabbing Lily's wrist and starting through the crowd again. "That kid makes me nervous," he said quietly as they left.

"Why?" Lily asked, and Remus looked at her pointedly. "Because of your…time of the month?"

"Lily, don't be ridiculous. That vampire-werewolf animosity is just in the story books…I think. I meant that vampires drink blood!"

"But he's only part-vampire isn't he?" Lily said. "How does that work anyway? How can someone be _part_ vampire? I didn't think it was genetic…"

"Hell if I know. But maybe we should pay attention at dinner tomorrow night, and see what he eats."

They found Severus by the bowl of punch, looking extremely aggravated. "Oh, thank God," he said when he saw Lily, then stopped abruptly when he saw who was with her. "What's he doing here?"

"I told you I was going to ask him to come, Sev," said Lily. "I noticed you didn't dress up?"

"I noticed you did," he said, taking in her costume with wide eyes.

"Of course he dressed up, Evans," said James from behind them. "Can't you tell? He's a humongous bat!"

"I would have gone with humungous git, Prongs," said Sirius, emerging from the crowd to stand next to James. Severus took the smallest of moments to take in Sirius's costume before drawing his wand. With the reflexes of a cat, James had done the same.

"Severus," said Lily, walking between the two wands and facing him. "Don't lower yourself to Potter's level." Severus looked as if he wouldn't mind lowering to Potter's level for just long enough to hex him, but he lowered his wand anyway.

"What are you?" said James, walking around Lily to get a clear view of Severus. "Chicken?" James waved his wand high above his head and brought it down with a flash. Instantly, Severus sprouted feathers from every inch of visible skin, and by the look of his suddenly puffed out robes, his non-visible skin as well.

"Potter!" yelled Lily furiously. Lily wished that Emmeline had been a real Veela for a moment. She thought Potter could use a good fireball thrown at him.

"Now, what's all this commotion?" said Slughorn, pushing through the crowd. He chuckled at the scene. "A Halloween prank? How marvelous!"

Lily looked incredulously at Slughorn. "Marvelous?" she yelled. "Potter just attacked Severus!" There was a loud bang, and Lily turned quickly to see Severus with his wand out. He had cursed James when Lily's back was turned. "Severus!" she yelled in exasperation. James had been thrown across the room. Sirius took out his wand to retaliate, but Lily shouted "Levicorpus!" and Sirius was pulled into the air by his ankle, his beak falling off his nose, and his wand flying out of his hand. "Enough!" Lily shouted at Severus as he raised his wand again.

"Well – er – this has been…exciting. Miss Evans, if you could please let Mr. Black down," said Slughorn. Lily did so, but reluctantly. "Thank you. And Mr. Snape, would you like to be escorted to the hospital wing?"

Lily opened her mouth to say she could take him, but Severus said, "No, I can take myself," and marched out of the room in order to get his feathers removed. Lily stood for a minute, watching him go.

"Mr. Potter," Slughorn called across the room. "Are you all right?"

"Dandy!" said James, bouncing up again, though he sounded out of breath.

"Wonderful," said Slughorn. "Let the festivities begin again!"

But Lily was through with the festivities. She began pushing through the crowd toward the door. "Lily," said Remus's voice behind her. "Are you okay?"

"No. I need to get out of here," said Lily without stopping.

"Do you want me to come with you?" said Remus, struggling to keep up with her.

"No."

"Why are you angry at me? I didn't do anything!"

"Exactly," and with a last look at Remus, she marched into the corridor, slamming the door in her wake.


	14. Chapter 14

**Authour's Note: ****lunamorgana94**** asked two good questions (along with her kind comments), and I thought I'd answer them here just in case anyone else was wondering:**

**On James being a Chaser: While he's commonly mistaken for a Seeker due to the fact that they made him so in the movies, JKR has said in interviews that he was actually a Chaser.**

**On Lily's knowledge about Remus: This is probably where I've taken the most creative liberty. JKR has never stated when Lily learned about Remus being a werewolf; it's implied in the Prince's Tale that she didn't know in their fifth year, because that's what she tells Severus. However, as I have her constantly denying to Severus that she knows anything in my story (and as you'll see when we get to that scene – which is pretty much verbatim the scene in the books – I'll have to do some official citing of sources when it comes to that...) I've found a way around it. In the end, it was more a desire to have Lily be close friends with Remus and have an avenue through which to really become close to the Marauders as a group.**

**Thank you all again for your lovely reviews! They honestly make my day!**

**-Amora**

* * *

><p>"The girl is mental," Sirius was saying, "completely hormonal." He grinned around at the others. "I like her!"<p>

The Marauders had left the party not long after Lily, and were now sitting in the good chairs in front of Gryffindor fire. James was lying on the couch, looking miserable.

"It's your own fault," said Remus, looking at him. "You know that attacking Severus in front of Lily – or any time at all, for that matter – will make her upset."

"I know," said James, covering his face. "But it's like…in the moment, I can't control myself. I see her standing near Snape, and it all of a sudden seems like the best idea in the world to attack him. Like one of these times she'll see behind his act and notice what a git he is."

"Déjà vu, much?" said Sirius. "Haven't we had this conversation before?"

"About every time James puts a curse on Severus," said Remus, cracking a small smile.

"Since when have you started calling him Severus?" snapped James.

"Since it dawned on me that he isn't acting to win Lily and upset you, James. I think he really and truly cares about her."

James sat up and looked as if Remus had just slapped him. "How can you say that Lily would be better with him than with me?"

"I wasn't saying that at all, James," Remus said calmly. "I think that they would be awful together. One, because Severus has been hanging around a bad crowd lately and I don't want Lily to be dragged into that; two, because Lily doesn't care about Severus that way."

"How do you know that?" said James, though more quietly.

"We've become closer friends," said Remus, shrugging. "Last year, after she yelled at that group of Slytherins on my behalf, we sort of…began talking more. This summer we've been writing back and forth, and she's…told me things."

"What kind of things?" James looked as if he were ready to jump from the couch at any moment.

"I'm not going to tell you," said Remus with a small laugh.

"Aw, c'mon—"

"No way, James. Lily is mad at me now, too. I'm not going to make it worse."

"I've never met anyone who mood swings more than that girl," said Sirius in a kind of awe.

"Are you two stupid?" Remus said, and he sounded more harsh than they had ever heard him. James, Sirius, and Peter looked shocked. "Haven't you noticed when these 'mood swings' started?"

"When she realized she's in love with me?" James said hopefully.

"No, you prat," said Remus. Then he paused as if in thought, then said, "Well…"

"Well what?" said James eagerly.

"Nothing," Remus said quickly. "If you remember, Lily didn't used to be so emotionally strained, and we used to all get on really well, at least the first couple years. Then things started to get…complicated. Lily started to feel torn between the Gryffindors and Severus."

"And she chose Snape," said Peter.

"Well, yes. He'd been her best friend for years, and we – well, we weren't always that nice to her," continued Remus.

Sirius grinned as her remembered switching out Lily's shampoo so that her hair would turn purple. "It was all in good fun," he said.

"Still," said Remus. "And now, she's a fifteen year old girl who feels like her best friend is abandoning her to go join forces with Voldemort who is another pure-blood maniac, meaning that Severus would be working to kill people like Lily. Then there's the fact that Lily knows that Severus feels more than friendship toward her, but she doesn't feel that way back; but if she pushes him away now, she could lose him forever, and he is her closest friend."

They sat in silence for a moment. James looked truly guilty for the first time in a long time.

"But, I can't just lay down my wand and let the Slytherins win!" said James suddenly, looking around for support, and Sirius nodded. "The first Quidditch match is against Slytherin! They're going to be attacking us left and right!"

"Well, maybe if you don't attack them, they won't attack you," suggested Remus.

"Moony, you know that is hippogriff crap," said Sirius, laughing. "Of course the Slytherins are going to attack! And we've got to hit them before they hit us!"

"James, I'm telling you," said Remus seriously. "If you ever want Lily to look at you as something more than a big head on a broomstick, do not attack any Slytherin players before the match."

* * *

><p>Remus's warning, however, proved to be useless. The word spread fast that James Potter and Sirius Black had struck again, landing the Slytherin keeper, Bertram Aubrey, in the hospital wing for two days by cursing him so that his head grew twice its normal size. They had each received a detention for the act.<p>

"But the important thing is that he's okay," said Sirius in fake seriousness. "And his head didn't fall off."

Remus started avoiding his two best friends. Though he denied it, Lily suspected she was right in guessing that he did this so that he wouldn't feel guilty for not giving them detentions.

"If you don't see them do it, you can't do anything about it," Lily accused him one morning at breakfast. They were sitting away from James, Sirius, and Peter.

"They're my best friends," Remus said in a strained voice. "If there is anyone that could understand feeling torn because of your best friend, I would think it would be you. Severus attacked James on Halloween, too, and you didn't give him a detention."

Lily blushed a little, but nodded. She did understand, and decided from that moment on that she wouldn't harp on Remus anymore to make him control his friends. She knew that was impossible.

"I'm still not going to the Quidditch match," said Lily defiantly. "I can't stand anymore Gryffindor-Slytherin animosity, or I will go insane."

"Fair enough," said Remus, though he knew that James was part of the reason that she didn't want to go. "Hey, Lily," said Remus suddenly. "Where did you learn that spell that you put on Sirius at Slughorn's party? I've never seen anything like it before."

Lily blushed fully now, and looked around quickly, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Severus is an extremely intelligent and talented wizard," she said quietly, choosing her words carefully. "He sort of…messes about with spells in his spare time. Or at least he used to, because he didn't have many other friends than me. I don't know what kind of things his inventing now," Lily finished darkly.

"He _invents_ spells?" said Remus in shock. "But that's – _extremely_ advanced!"

"You're telling me," said Lily with a small smile. "_Levicorpus_ is just one of his spells that he's taught me. They're quite brilliant."

"Moony!" Sirius said, coming over to them. "Time for the match! James is already in the locker room. Are you coming, Lily?" he asked, turning to her.

"I don't think so," she said.

"Aw, c'mon," said Sirius, sitting down across from her. "Don't you want to be part of Potter's cheering section?" Lily laughed, but still shook her head. "Ok, we'll see you at lunch later."

Lily watched them leave in curiosity. Five days ago, she had hoisted Sirius magically into the air by his ankle…so why was he being so nice to her? Was it possible that she had actually earned his _respect_ by attacking him? Lily shook her head to clear it of the Marauders. She did not understand them.

The Great Hall emptied as the occupants went to watch the Quidditch match, and Lily noticed happily that Severus was still seated at the Slytherin table, directly across from her three tables over. She waved to him and he waved back.

When Lily reached the Slytherin table, she flopped down in a seat across from Severus. "Not going to the match, either?"

Severus shook his head. "I can't stand watching Potter on that broomstick of his."

"Especially if he wins," said Lily. "What do you want to do today?"

They eventually decided to go up to the library, as they had an Arithmancy essay due at the end of the week which neither of them had started yet. The library was entirely empty except for Madam Pince, which they were grateful for. It was nice to have some quiet for a change.

A couple hours later, the castle started to fill back up again. Remus found Lily and Severus in the library, and while Severus looked as if he had just eaten a lemon when Remus asked if he could join them, he didn't say anything. By one o'clock, they were completely done.

"Well, that takes a load off," said Lily, tossing her essay aside and stretching. "Maybe I should skip Quidditch more often. What happened, anyway?" she asked Remus.

"Oh, we won," he said simply, glancing slightly at Severus. Severus, however, did not change his expression. It seemed he couldn't care less about whether or not his house won or lost at Quidditch.

They went down to the Great Hall for lunch. "See you later, Lily," Severus said as they reached the Slytherin table, and Remus and Lily continued onward to the end of the hall. As the approached the table, James, Sirius, and Peter waved at them to come sit with them.

"We don't have to," said Remus, turning to Lily. "Sit with them, I mean."

"No, it's okay," said Lily with a set face. "But if he starts in on his amazing flying ability again…" It wasn't as if Lily disliked Quidditch, she actually enjoyed it very much; but she disliked the way in which James talked about it, as if he were a god on a broomstick.

"Do you want to hear about—" James started immediately, his face lighting up when Lily sat across from him.

"I wouldn't, James," said Remus quickly, cutting him off.

Lily didn't know if it was because she had finally snapped from emotional stress, or deep down she really did want to try to be friends with him, or if it was the disappointment like that of a sad puppy that took James's expression. Nevertheless, Lily found herself saying, "Oh, go on, then. What happened in the match?"

James lit up as if Christmas had come early and started giving Lily a blow-by-blow of everything that had happened that morning on the field. "And we were fifty points down, it was terrible, I don't know what got into Dana to make her keep missing the Quaffle, must have been nerves I guess—"

"Plus that prat of a brother of mine kept diving for the Snitch," Sirius interjected.  
>"Ugh, it was horrible! I had to fly directly in front of him to stop him at one point. You should have seen that dive! Anyway, I start ignoring Dana's calls for plays and started calling my own. Next thing we know, we're up by twenty points! Dana couldn't decide whether to be furious at me for ignoring her, or ecstatic with me for getting our team ahead. Marks was so inspired, she was able to catch the Snitch five minutes later!"<p>

"That or she's a great Seeker," said Remus under his breath.

"That's great, Potter," said Lily, looking as if she were trying hard not to laugh.

"Really?" he asked with big eyes. Lily was sure for a minute that there had been a mistake in the transformations, and James was supposed to be the dog.

"Yeah, really," she answered.

Lily left to go back to the library with Severus after lunch, and the Marauders decided to enjoy the last bit of nice weather before the cold started, and went outside to lounge under the beech tree by the lake.

"That went rather well," said James, grinning and flopping down on the grass. "I think I'm growing on her. What do you think, Remus?" he asked slyly.

"I don't know," said Remus, leaning against the tree and closing his eyes.

"Aw, c'mon," James pleaded. "Give me something!"

"There's nothing to give," Remus said simply. "She's never _said _anything about liking you."

"Aha!" exclaimed Sirius, joining in the fray. "There was stress on the 'said'."

"Why do you care so much?" Remus said, rounding on Sirius.

"Well it's been a long time since any of the Marauders got any action. If there's a victory for one of us, there's a small victory for all of us," Sirius shrugged.

Remus threw up his hands in exasperation. "This is exactly what has kept you from 'action'! If you could tone down the arrogance, it would do you a world of good."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said James, waving to a group of girls who were passing. Sirius had done the same, and the girls, upon being noticed by the two now infamous boys, burst into giggles and started whispering to one another.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," said Remus.

"You two complain about getting girls," said Peter in a squeaky whine, "but the truth is, you could have anyone!"

James dropped his hand and suddenly looked very serious and annoyed. "I don't want 'anyone'," he said. Remus opened his mouth to speak, but James cut him off. "No, Remus. This isn't one of my random obsessions. I've tried to get over this, you know I have. I even went out with a couple of girls last year. But other girls don't hold my attention." James laid down on his back and stared into the sky. "Lord knows my life would be easier if I wasn't interested in Lily Evens."

Remus stared at James for a moment in curiosity. "She hasn't ever said anything," started Remus slowly, and James closed his eyes, as if his one hope had failed him. "But," Remus continued, "I do think that she's interested."

James sat up so quickly that Sirius, who had been standing leaning against the tree, fell over in surprise. "Bloody hell, James!" he yelled, but James ignored him, staring intently at Remus, waiting for him to go on.

"She talks about you a lot. Granted, it's usually in frustration, but no one can talk about a person they don't care about that much. And she never says that she hates your personality, per se…She more complains about the fact that you and Sirius have so much talent, and refuse to put it anywhere good. She told me she thought you two could probably save the world if you wanted to."

Sirius grinned in a boasting manner, and a small, optimistic smile played on James's lips. "I knew she wanted me," he said, lying down again.

Remus sighed, shook his head, and threw his hands up once more. James Potter still had a lot of growing up to do.

* * *

><p><strong>10 points to anyone who remembered that the Bertram Aubrey detention for expanding his head is actually in the books! HBP when Snape makes Harry go through all the old detention records.<strong>


	15. Chapter 15

The second week of November brought a thick blanket of snow to the grounds of Hogwarts. The halls were chillier than usual with the cold winter breeze forcing its way through the cracks around the windows, and fires were constantly lit in every fireplace. The workload of the fifth years continued to increase, and by the third week in November, the entirety of the Arithmancy class looked as if they were about to collapse under stress.

To make the class even worse, Lily was sat uncomfortably between Severus and James. She kept looking nervously from right to left, as if expecting to have to stop one of them from pouncing on the other.

"Evans, no procrastinating, concentrate, now," said Professor Vector, noticing Lily's gaze.

"Right, sorry, Professor," said Lily quickly, looking down at her parchment. They were supposed to be using the Chaldean Method to find the values of the names of all of their family members, most immediate first.

"That can't be right!" hissed James in exasperation. Severus let out a deprecating snort on Lily's left, but she ignored him and leaned closer to James.

"That's because you're using the Aggripan chart," said Lily, turning the page in James's book.

"Remus is going to be upset he missed this," said Sirius, looking at the empty seat to his right.

"Well, if you're free after dinner, I can come up to the hospital wing with you guys. We can fill him in on the Chaldean Method," offered Lily. James beamed. A much louder snort from Lily's left made her turn and look at Severus. "What's up with you?"

"It's Thursday!" Severus said angrily. Thursday – their potion making day.

"It's okay, Lily," said James. "Some other time."

Lily looked shocked at him; James never gave up that easily. However, her confusion was cleared up at lunchtime when James revealed why he was so easy to give up on an argument with Severus.

"We'll go after hours, once you're back from your potions thing," said James through a mouthful of potato. "I couldn't say it in front of Snape. The last thing I need is him discovering that I have an Invisibility Cloak." Lily looked disapproving, but James said, "Oh, come on, Lily. Do you really want Remus to fail his Arithmancy O.W.L?"

"Fine," said Lily. "But I'm not getting under that cloak with you two. I'm allowed to be out; if I'm seen, I'll just say I'm patrolling."

* * *

><p>Later that night, after Lily had come back to the common room, James and Sirius went upstairs to get the cloak. Peter, who had a lot of work in Muggle Studies and didn't take Arithmancy, opted to stay behind. The sharp prod in the back from what appeared to be nothing told Lily that it was time to leave the common room once again.<p>

"Did you guys make it through the portrait hole?" Lily muttered, starting to walk as the Fat Lady swung shut behind her.

"Yep," came Sirius's voice.

"And slow down, would you?" said James. "It's hard to walk in this thing with the both of us and stay covered. We're tall."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that right now, do you? You're with the prefect that would be patrolling this floor. Just worry about covering your feet when I see someone coming."

"I like this one," came Sirius's voice again. "She's intelligent, she is."

Lily rolled her eyes and continued walking at her normal pace, the feet and ankles of James and Sirius following behind her. They reached the hospital wing without any run-ins with teachers, ghosts, or other prefects. The only one to worry about now was Madam Pomphrey.

"She's asleep by now," James whispered, taking the cloak off of himself and Sirius. "But we'll lock her in just in case," and he pointed his wand at her door, magically locking it.

Remus looked as awful as he always did before the full moon, and he had great purple bags under his eyes. "What took you guys so long?"

"Lily was experimenting with Snape," Sirius smirked.

"Oh, shut up, dog," said Lily, but with a laugh. She walked over to Remus and dropped a large stack of parchment on his stomach. "Notes," she said simply.

Remus groaned. "As if I didn't have enough to worry about," he said, looking out the window at the moon, which would gain its full shape in only one day.

"It's okay, mate," said James, sitting at the foot of Remus's bed. "Don't worry too much about your furry little problem right now. Let's focus on a cornucopia of random numbers instead!"

They worked until nearly midnight going over their notes. It proved to be an immensely useful study session for the rest of them, as well as Remus. By midnight, however, they had become bored and distracted by studying. Now each of them were lounging on hospital beds on either side of Remus, talking and laughing.

"I still think Hobday looks like a grindylow," Sirius was saying. "He looks sort of yellow and pasty sometimes."

"Yeah, and the way he reaches out with his spindly fingers to collect homework!" James did a horribly inaccurate impression that still put them all in a fit of laughter, which was stifled quickly when they heard rustling from Madam Pomphrey's office.

"Uh-oh," said Lily, sitting up.

"You guys had better go," said Remus, though he looked as if the last thing he wanted was to be left alone in the dark hospital wing. "I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for coming down tonight," he tried to smile, but cringed.

"We'll come up at lunch," said Lily, laying her hand over Remus's.

"Yeah, plus we have tomorrow night to look forward to!" said Sirius, then added quickly when the others all looked at him incredulously, "I mean, the whole animagus thing. I wouldn't look forward to your transformation. Much less fun."

"Right," said Remus with a small laugh. They bade him goodnight and began their trek back to the Gryffindor common room, Lily again followed by the feet of Sirius and James. The trip back, however, was just as uneventful as the trip down to see Remus.

"You know," said James when they had crawled back through the portrait hole, "it just isn't as fun when you don't almost get in trouble at least once on a night like this."

At that moment, the portrait hole swung open and Professor McGonagall came striding in.

"This is your fault for saying that," said Sirius, turning to James.

McGonagall, however, looked surprised to see them. "What are you three doing up so late?" but she didn't wait for a response. Instead she continued, looking rather serious, "No matter, it was you I wanted to see anyway, Miss Evans."

Lily looked surprised, and a little afraid. "About what, Professor?" she said timidly.

Professor McGonagall looked from James to Sirius, as if debating whether or not to ask them to leave, but apparently decided against it. "You two might as well stay, as events of this matter will soon begin affecting all of us," she sounded more somber and tired than they had ever heard her. "Have a seat," she said, and Lily, James, and Sirius sat.

"Professor Slughorn is down talking to Severus now," started Professor McGonagall.

"Oh no! Professor, is everyone all right? Is his family—"

"Calm down, Miss Evans," McGonagall continued. "Both your families are fine. However, there has been an attack," she looked as if she were trying to choose her words carefully. "An attack in your town," she clarified. "A Muggle family – the Browns – has been murdered. I believe that you knew them."

Lily's eyes widened in shock. The Browns. She did know them. All her life, they were the nice family that lived down the street. She had been to their house for dinner countless times. They had two daughters, just a little older than Lily and Petunia. "Why?" was all Lily could manage in a strangled whisper.

"The Muggle police are investigating, but Professor Dumbledore believes – Miss Evans, we do not think that any Muggle did this. There was no sign of struggle, no blood or anything of the matter. All evidence points to—"

"The Killing Curse. _Avada Kedavra_," said Sirius darkly. McGonagall nodded.

Lily's struggled to swallow over the lump in her throat.

"There is one more part," said McGonagall. "Hanging over the house was what the Muggle police called fireworks, but no Muggle fireworks look like this. It was a giant shimmering skull. As soon as your parents saw it, they fled to your aunt and uncle's house, where they sent a rushed message to Professor Dumbledore."

"So it is all true," said James darkly, taking his eyes off Lily for the first time in a minute and looking at McGonagall. "Voldemort –" McGonagall looked shocked that James said his name so casually. "All the rumours that are flying about – and now they're going for the pure Muggle towns."

"I should not say anymore, I'm afraid, Potter. Everything at this point is still speculation," said Professor McGonagall, standing up. She touched Lily's shoulder briefly, then turned and strode back out of the portrait hole.

"Blimey," said Sirius quietly. "I'm sorry, Lily."

"Don't feel sorry for me!" said Lily with sudden strength. "Feel sorry for the innocent people that were murdered tonight!"

"I do," he said, even more quietly. Lily swallowed hard again, breathing deeply as she put her hand over Sirius's. James was in such deep thought that he didn't even muster up a glare for Sirius.

James kneeled in front of Lily so that they were at eye level. "This Voldemort and his followers are going to pay for this. I promise you, Lily. Even if we can't do it now, when we get the chance, we are going to fight back."

Lily looked into James's eyes and nodded.


	16. Chapter 16

"The entire family?" Remus was saying in shock. Lily, James, and Sirius were sitting in the hospital wing with Peter and Remus and filling them in on the events of the previous night.

"But – what did they do? I mean, why were they killed?" said Peter in a small voice.

"They were killed because they were like me," Lily said darkly. "Mudbloods."

"Lily!" James exclaimed.

"It's true, isn't it? That's how those dark wizards saw them. Worse than Mudbloods like me, actually. They didn't have any magic blood."

None of the boys knew what to say. They didn't know how to comfort her.

"What did Severus say?" asked Remus quietly.

"I haven't had a chance to see him yet," said Lily, avoiding everyone's gaze and staring at the floor. Her words weren't fully true. It was true that she hadn't seen Severus yet that day, but she had had multiple times in which she could have tried to go and talk to him. The truth was, Lily was afraid of Severus's reaction, or lack-there-of, to the death of the Browns. She was sure, too, that he would deny any connection of the murder and the rumours of the rising dark wizard.

A bell reverberated through the corridors, marking the end of lunch and the start of afternoon classes. "We'd better go, Moony," said James. "Herbology is calling. Get some rest, we'll see you tonight."

Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter entered the surprisingly warm greenhouses ten minutes later. Over in the corner, Benji was waving at them to come and sit with him and a Hufflepuff named Tilden Toots. "Did you guys see the _Prophet_ this morning?" Benji asked as they sat down. "There's an entire Muggle family's that snuffed it! There's a huge uproar, apparently the story wasn't meant to be released, but this new witch reporter Rita Skeeter—" Benji stopped suddenly at the looks on all of their faces. "You didn't know the family, did you?"

"They were my neighbors," said Lily, looking Benji straight in the eye.

"Oh. Uh—" But Benji was saved from trying to come up with the right thing to say, as Professor Sprout had just entered carrying a large tray of lethal looking flowers. Each revealed a complete set of fanged teeth when their petals opened.

"Today you will be pruning our selection of Fanged Geraniums. Proper technique is on page 73. Two per table. Come on, now, stop doddling!"

James and Sirius pushed Peter to go and get their plants, and Tilden went to help. They returned to the table with two bright orange flowers. "Oh, they're just wonderful, aren't they?" said Tilden, examining the fangs closely. "Brilliant creatures. They work just like a venus fly trap, except their unique fangs allow them to trap much larger prey!" A fact which the flower was proving by trying to eat Tilden's hand, which he was waving around as he talked.

"Yeah, brilliant," said Sirius, clearly trying not to laugh.

They spent the rest of the class distracted by the Fanged Geraniums. Lily, who was sitting in the middle of the table, kept turning from right to left, trying to help with the plants on either end. The rest of their classmates were, too, in chaos. Greta Catchlove, another Hufflepuff fifth year, got her hair so tangled in the fangs of one of the flowers that Professor Sprout had to run over and cut a large chunk of her hair off. This resulted in Lily becoming very distracted, and she was almost bitten by the plant that she had her back to. Luckily, James had wacked the plant with his book before it got the chance, and put it in a temporary daze. Lily was glad of the chaotic distraction, however; it let the dark feeling mixed with stress in the pit of her stomach relax for a while.

The bell rang, and the class, thoroughly scratched and bitten, but smelling of flowers, headed back up to the castle.

"Now there's nothing to worry about until Astronomy tonight," sighed Lily.

"What?" said James suddenly.

"It's Friday," said Lily. "We have Astronomy tonight when it gets dar—" Lily's eyes widened with sudden realization. The full moon was tonight.

"Exactly," said James.

"But you can't abandon Remus!" hissed Lily.

"Then we won't," said Sirius, his face set. "Lily, if I can find a way to get us out of Astronomy, can you cover for us?"

Lily looked around as if expecting someone to pop out any second and accuse them all of breaking the rules. "No problem," she said.

"Wait, I'm confused—"

"Not now, Peter!" said James, and both he and Sirius grabbed a hold of Peter's arms and ran him up the marble staircase.

"What are those boys going to do now?" said Lily under her breath, in a sort of awed annoyance.

"Talking to yourself, now, are we?"

Lily turned around quickly, and saw Severus emerging from the passage that led down to the dungeons. "Didn't you have Charms?" Lily asked.

"Transfiguration, actually. But it got cancelled. McGonagall had some things to do with Dumbledore, I guess."

"Right. So...Slughorn talked to you last night, I guess?" began Lily slowly.

"Yeah. Did McGonagall see you?"

Lily nodded, and waited for him to say something else. When he didn't, she said, more quickly and loudly than she had intended, "Well, don't you think it's dreadful?"

"I suppose," said Severus in the voice he reserved for occasions in which he was bored.

"You suppose? Sev, four innocent people are dead!"

"You're really upset." It wasn't a question, but Lily nodded anyway. "Then I am sorry."

"I don't understand you sometimes, Severus," said Lily quietly, shaking her head.

Severus said simply, "I know," with a sad smile.

"C'mon," Lily sighed. "Let's go to the library, then."

They stayed in the library until dinner, where Lily told Severus that she would see him later that night for Astronomy, and headed for the Gryffindor table. James, Sirius, and Peter were all wearing devious grins on their faces.

"Oh, no," said Lily warningly. "Not another prank, not tonight. I can only take so much."

"Breathe, Lily, it's not a prank…really," said Sirius. "And you agreed earlier that if we found a way out of Astronomy, you would help us."

"It's for Remus," Peter added.

Lily sighed. "Fine, but only because I hate the thought of him having to be all alone and in pain."

James lowered his voice so much that Lily could barely hear him and said, "We're going to land ourselves in the hospital wing. Madam Pomphrey has to escort Remus out of the castle at six, but she won't want any students seeing her doing it. She'll have to patch us up and rush us out of the wing. By that time, you'll already be in Astronomy, where you'll say that us three are still in the hospital wing. In the meantime, we'll have snuck onto the grounds in order to transform."

Lily looked as if she hadn't quite taken all the information in. "And how are you going to land yourselves in the hospital wing?"

"That's a good question, Lily," said James in thought. "How are we doing this?" he asked Sirius.

"Funny you should ask," said Sirius, and before Lily could object, he grabbed her and pulled her into a passionate kiss.

James jumped up, nearly overturning the table as he did so. "Get off her!" he yelled, but Sirius only held Lily closer, and he was too strong for Lily to push away. James pulled out his wand and cursed Sirius, but Sirius was too quick for him. He had grabbed Peter and used him as a shield. Peter now lay on the floor with boils covering his body. Sirius acted as if he were going to grab Lily again, but this time James's spell hit Sirius straight on. He flew into the Hufflepuff table, his handsome face now covered with tentacles.

"Oh," whispered James in sudden realization. "Curse me!" he whispered to Lily.

"Gladly." Lily's curse sent him flying into the wall behind him, knocking him out.

"Enough!" yelled Professor McGonagall as she came running toward the Gryffindor table. "Detention, on—" but McGonagall stopped when she realized that all of the boys were unconscious. "Oh, I'll tell them later," she sighed. "Evans, Vance – will you help me take them up to the hospital wing?" McGonagall conjured three stretchers and magicked them into the air.

"I didn't know Sirius fancied you," Emmeline said quietly to Lily as she floated his stretcher before her. There was something in her voice that Lily couldn't quite place.

"He doesn't," she said. "He just wanted a reason to get out of Astronomy. He knew James would curse him if he kissed me."

"Oh!" said Emmeline, and she laughed. "Well, now all three of them can get out of it! He did them all a favour!"

"Yep, I guess so," Lily sighed. She avoided looking at the Slytherin table as they passed; the last thing she needed to see right now was Severus's reaction to what had happened, for he had surely seen it, and even if he hadn't, the entire hall was talking about the scuffle at the Gryffindor table. It took a mere few hours for gossip to travel throughout the entire castle; it took only seconds for news to get across the Great Hall. She would have to face him in Astronomy.

When they reached the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomphrey looked very flustered. "What's all this, then?" she demanded when McGonagall, Lily, and Emmeline entered, each with stretchers carrying James, Peter, and Sirius in front of them.

"Please, Poppy, just fix them up and have them on their way," said McGonagall with a pointed look at the darkening sky. As Madam Pomphrey bustled about, McGonagall turned to the girls and said, "Well, you'd best hurry up to your common room and get ready for Astronomy. Dinner is almost finished." She turned on her heel and left.

"Are you coming, Lily?" asked Emmeline when she had almost reached the door and discovered that Lily wasn't following her.

Lily had set eyes on Remus. She had never seen him this close to the full moon before, and he looked terrible. She wasn't entirely sure if he was in a fitful sleep or if his eyes were just screwed shut in pain; either way, he had no awareness of his surroundings.

"Those Lupus flares get pretty bad, I guess," said Emmeline, following Lily's gaze and spotting Remus.

"Yeah," said Lily without taking her eyes off of Remus. She walked over to him and brushed the hair from his sweat covered forehead. "Let's go," she said suddenly to Emmeline. Lily didn't think she could take another minute watching Remus in such pain. She couldn't imagine what he would look like during the actual transformation. She felt another rush of compassion for James, Sirius, and Peter for doing so much for their friend.

An hour later, Lily, Emmeline, Alice, Mary, and Benji all climbed out of the portrait hole and began the trek to the Astronomy Tower. Benji was talking happily and animatedly about football with Alice, who had never seen the Muggle game before. Emmeline and Mary were laughing about something stupid a seventh year girl named Bertha Jorkins had said. None of them realized that a fellow friend was in agonizing pain just a few floors away…

Once at the top of the Astronomy tower, they each set up their telescopes around the edges while Professor Sinistra handed out charts for them to fill out. Even though he looked extremely upset, Severus set his telescope up next to Lily.

"Mars is bright tonight," Severus said indolently.

"Taking the passive aggressive route, are we?" said Lily, a little passive aggressively herself. "Just come out and ask, why don't you?"

"How could you kiss Black?" Severus said, trying to keep his voice steady.

"I didn't," retorted Lily out of the corner of her mouth, as Sinistra was passing behind them. "He kissed me. He was trying to get a rise out of Potter."

"Well, it seemed to have worked."

They went a few minutes without talking, though it was not the comfortable silence that they had once mastered so well.

"It really wouldn't be any of your business, anyway," said Lily in a rush suddenly.

"None of my business? You're my best friend!"

"_Best_ friend, not _girl_friend, Severus," said Lily.

Severus looked as though he had just been punched in the stomach. Before he could think of something to say back, Emmeline, who had been pointing her telescope at various objects that were not in the sky, said, "Oh, look! There's a dog! And – oh my Merlin! Is that a stag?"

Lily felt the bottom of her stomach fall out. There was a sound of bustling as everyone looked around to see what Emmeline had seen.

"I've never seen a stag before!" gasped a Slytherin.

"Is it true that if you catch one, you get a wish?" said Mary.

"No!" said Lily loudly, and a few people, including Mary, looked around, rather shocked. "Uh, I mean…that's just a myth. The stag's probably from the Forest, and _should be going back near there any time now!_" Lily said the last few words loudly, as if Stag-James could hear her from the tower. Sirius gave a few loud barks.

_What are they playing at?_ thought Lily angrily. Why weren't they with Remus? The two started running around each other in a kind of dance. James would occasionally charge at Sirius, who in turn would growl loudly and try to nip him. Lily wished she had something she could throw at them.

"All right, now, class. Back to work, please," said Professor Sinistra after watching the forms of James and Sirius for a couple of minutes herself. "The more you do now, the less homework you'll have due for next time."

Finally, with a last bow toward the tower – Lily could have sworn that Stag-James had made eye contact with her for the briefest of seconds – the two animagi ran toward the Whomping Willow on the edge of the Forbidden Forest and disappeared behind it.

"Honestly," said Lily under her breath.

"Why did those two animals bother you so much?" said Severus suspiciously as, nearly an hour later, the class descended the stairs and started toward their common rooms.

"They were just…distracting, is all," said Lily, though apparently she did not sound too convincing, as Severus did not drop the issue.

"It's strange that the night Potter and Black go missing from Astronomy, that these two creatures show up and start acting very odd."

"How's that strange?" said Lily, trying to keep her voice calm. "You don't honestly think that Potter and Black are intelligent enough to become animagi? Besides, Peter was gone, too, and he would most definitely be with them. They don't do anything apart. And they were in the Hospital Wing. They're probably still with Remus." Lily marveled at the fact that she was able to say that entire thing without lying. Severus did not think that James and Sirius would be smart enough to become animagi; Peter was with them, just not visible due to his size; they all _were_ in the Hospital Wing, though they weren't anymore; and they probably were with Remus right now.

Severus's eyes were still slits, but he said, "I suppose not." Lily sighed quietly in relief. "Though," Severus went on, "didn't you notice? It's a full moon tonight."

"Of course I noticed, Sev, it's hardly difficult to miss in Astronomy class." When Severus looked at Lily pointedly, Lily said, "Oh, don't you start in again. I don't want to hear it."

"Lily, think about it! Lupin is in the Hospital Wing _again_ during the _full moon_! I don't care how much rubbish you feed me about Lupus. I've done research, and Lupus is easily curable at Saint Mungos. Lily," Severus grabbed Lily's arms to swing her around to look at him and to stop her from walking onward, "he's a werewolf!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Sev," said Lily.

"I understand you don't want to believe it," said Severus. "For whatever reasons you're friends with him. But all the signs point to—"

"Do you honestly think that I wouldn't be friends with him if he were a werewolf?" said Lily angrily. "I don't care about what's in his blood, Sev. You could be a vampire for all I care; you would still be my best friend. Blood doesn't make you who you are!" She paused for a second, then continued. "There was a time when I asked you if it made a difference that I was a Muggle-born," Severus avoided her gaze by looking at the floor, "and you told me that it didn't matter." Lily put her hand on Severus's shoulder, and he looked up at her. "You didn't used to care about blood."

"Are we talking about werewolves anymore?"

"What do you think?" Lily said with a small laugh.

"I still am that guy," said Severus, though he sounded weak and tired.

_I hope that doesn't change_, thought Lily, but she did not say it out loud.

* * *

><p>Lily did not go up to her dormitory with her roommates once she reached the common room. Instead, just as she had done during the previous full moon, she took out her homework and began to work; and, also like during the previous full moon, she fell asleep on her homework. Sometime later, Lily was prodded awake by James.<p>

"You really didn't have to wai—"

SLAP.

James still had his mouth hanging open in shock. Lily had hit him across the face the second she realized who it was who had awoken her. "That was for being an immature prat and feeling the need to show off was more important than Remus!" Peter looked terrified, but Sirius was rolling with laughter. He was nearly as surprised when Lily slapped him even harder than she had slapped James.

"OW! What the bloody hell was that for?" Sirius demanded.

"For showing off instead of being there for Remus _and_ for publically molesting me," Lily said angrily.

Sirius laughed a little at the memory, then sobered up with the look on Lily's face. "Right. Sorry," he said. James was still too shocked, and Peter still too afraid, to speak.

"Now, I'm going to bed. I'll see you all at breakfast. Goodnight." Lily turned on her heel and marched toward the girls' staircase.

"Well, that's good," said James, rubbing his jaw. "She's still planning on talking to us in the morning."

"I think you're making progress," said Peter.


	17. Chapter 17

One and three quarter days later, after one of his fastest recoveries yet, Remus rejoined his peers at dinner. "Moony!" yelled Sirius when he saw Remus coming. "Back so soon!"

"Yeah, I get by with a little help from my friends," said Remus, grinning.

"Prongs, what do you see when you turn out the light?" asked Sirius.

"I can't tell you, but I know that it's mine. I didn't get my nickname from nowhere," said James, winking.

"I never should have introduced them to the Beatles," said Remus to Lily and Peter.

"It's good to have you back, Remus," said Lily. "Patrolling is boring without you."

"If you would just let me come along with the cloak—"

"No, Potter," said Lily sternly.

"Ugh," said Remus suddenly. "I've just realized it's Sunday. I missed the entire weekend due to my, er…"

"Furry little problem," supplied James.

Remus gave a small laugh. "Yeah. And now I have to go straight back to classes."

"Cheer up, it's almost Christmas!" said Peter in his squeaky voice.

"We've still got another two weeks before break," said Sirius. "That means two more weeks dealing with seeing my brother around the school."

"Are you staying here for the holidays?" asked Lily.

"Yeah, both James and I are," answered Sirius.

"As am I," said Remus. "I turn again during the holidays, and I can't stand seeing my mum so upset at Christmas."

"Besides," said James with a mischievous grin, "we can do a lot more exploring when the castle's emptier. And we'll have free reign of the entire grounds during the full moon!"

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that," said Lily, staring into her dinner, and the boys laughed.

"What about you?" asked Peter.

"I'm not sure yet," said Lily honestly. "I mean, I want to see my parents, but…Well, my sister isn't the most pro-magic person in the universe. I suppose I'll see what Sev is doing, and if he has his…other friends to keep him company. I'm not going to stay here for him if he's going to be in one of his 'ignore all Gryffindors, even if they happen to be your best friend' moods."

"Why don't you invite him to your house?" asked Peter. James looked like he was going to kill him.

"I've tried before, but he wasn't interested. He and Tuney – my sister – don't get along well. And by not well, I mean they would find a way to kill each other by New Years."

"I like your sister," said James.

"I wonder where _he's_ going for the holidays," said Sirius, looking over at the Ravenclaw table at Lorcan d'Eath. "He doesn't seem like too much of the celebrating type."

"Remus!" said Lily suddenly. "I completely forgot! We were going to try to figure out what a part vampire eats!"

"Hang on!" said Remus, his face lighting up. He got up and walked briskly over to the Ravenclaw table. He stopped a couple seats away from Lorcan to apparently talk to a boy in their grade. After a moment or two, Remus walked back to the Gryffindor table. "It's blood, all right," he said, looking very proud of himself. "But it isn't human. It's animal."

"How did Stebbins know that?" asked Peter.

"Don't be ridiculous," laughed Remus. "Of course he didn't. I was just pretending to have forgotten the Charms homework."

"Then," Lily started, but honestly, was a little afraid to ask, "how did you know it was animal blood?"

"I smelled it," said Remus.

There was almost a full minute's silence following this statement as they all stared at him incredulously.

"That's creepy, Moony," said James finally.

Remus laughed sheepishly. "I know," he said. "But it always happens. The first couple days after the full moon, my senses are more…wolf-like."

"Wait, so can you smell _us_?" asked James. "If one of us were lost, could you track us?"

"Let's talk about something else," said Lily, who had dropped her fork. "Anything else."

"So the other day James was locked in the bathroom for a really—"

"Okay, I'm going to go find Emmeline and Alice," said Lily, leaving before Sirius could continue.

* * *

><p>The air was thick with the anticipation of the holidays. The castle was soon adorned with the usual decorations, including the twelve magnificent Christmas trees placed around the Great Hall, and fake snow fell partway down from the enchanted ceiling. As Lily made her was down to dinner, she placed her hand on the banister of the marble staircase, which was wrapped with garlands of holly and laden with enchanted non-melting icicles.<p>

"Enjoying the scenery, Evans?" said James, leaning his back against the banister with his arms folded.

"I just…sort of wish I was staying at Hogwarts over the holidays."

"I wasn't referring to the decorations," smirked James. Lily glared at him. "When did you decide that you weren't staying?"

Lily paused as she remembered the conversation she had with Severus the day before.

"Don't worry about me," Severus had said. "I'll be fine."

"I don't want you to be alone, Sev," Lily protested. "And I don't mind staying—"

"No, you should go home," said Severus, and he did not sound angry, though he was persistent. After a pause, he said, "Mulciber and Avery are staying, too."

"Oh. I see," said Lily, and there was a coldness to her voice. "Have fun." And she had turned on her heel and left.

"Well?" said James after Lily had been quiet for a while.

"My…parents want me to come home. They miss me."

"Yeah, mine miss me, too. But they understand how much the school means to me." James paused. "You know, we'll miss you, too."

"Potter, quit it. The last thing I need is you trying to make another pass at me!" said Lily, turning and storming down the stairs.

"I wasn't making a pass," he said under his breath, too quietly for Lily to hear. James frowned and followed her silently into the Great Hall for dinner.

* * *

><p>The next morning Lily got up early to finish packing for break. She finished before both Emmeline and Alice, so, after a quick goodbye to Mary and Janet who were staying at the castle over the holidays ("My dad did a complete 180 and decided that Hogwarts was the only safe place on earth for me to be right now. So I'm not allowed to go home," Mary had said) Lily departed to wait in the common room, with her trunk floating in front of her.<p>

Lily was shocked to see Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter waiting for her in front of the fire.

"Surprise!" said Remus. "We came to see you off!"

"Er…" was all Lily could think of to say.

"C'mon, Lily, is it that shocking? We aren't going to see you for two weeks!" said Remus. "Plus James told us that you're going to miss Hogwarts."

"I hate you, Potter."

"I know," said James smiling. Then, without another word, he shoved a small parcel into her hands and turned to go back to his dormitory.

"Hey, wait a minute," said Lily, kicking open her trunk. "I was going to send these by owl, but I suppose that's pointless." Lily reached into her trunk and pulled out four small parcels, throwing the appropriate one to each Marauder. "Happy Christmas. Don't you dare open them until Christmas morning. I've charmed them so I'll know if you do."

"Only Lily Evans would do such a thing," said Sirius with a joke pout, shaking his parcel next to his ear. "Catch," he said as he tossed another present to Lily.

"You guys really didn't have to," said Lily, smiling as Remus and Peter both handed her gifts as well.

"Holiday spirit," said Remus, smirking. "We really will miss you, Lily," he said, pulling her into a sudden hug.

"I'll miss you, too."

"Lily, quit being sentimental, we've got to go!" said Emmeline as she appeared with Alice. Kingsley and Frank only seconds later.

"Says the girl who took forever packing," said Lily, pulling away from Remus. "Okay," she said turning to the Marauders, "see you lot later. Have a good holiday. Please don't die."

"We'll try," smirked James.

With a final wave, Lily, Emmeline, Alice, Frank, and Kingsley exited through the portrait hole.

Lily was met with another surprise in the Great Hall: Severus was waiting for her by the bottom of the stairs. "You guys go on, I'll catch you up," said Lily to the others.

"I'm sorry," said Severus as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Don't worry about it," said Lily. "It's Christmas." She pulled yet another parcel from her trunk and handed it to him. Severus set a gift of his own inside the trunk before she closed it.

"Happy Christmas," he said, smiling slightly.

Lily pulled him into a hug, said "Miss you already," and turned quickly to follow the others out of the great oak doors.


	18. Chapter 18

The train ride was fairly uneventful. Alice and Frank flirted constantly; Emmeline fell asleep; Kingsley was immersed in his Dailey Prophet. Lily hated to admit it, but she missed train rides with James and Sirius; at least they made the trip entertaining.

When they reached Platform 9 ¾ Lily bade her friends 'happy holidays' and headed for the brick wall. Her parents were waiting for her at Kings Cross station. Petunia was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, Mum! Dad!" Lily said happily, giving each of them a hug in turn.

"How's school?" asked her dad, taking the trolley from her as they walked. Lily spent the entire car ride telling her parents all about her current year at Hogwarts. This must have been why they didn't want to bring Petunia along.

"And any more news on…well, you know," said Mr. Evans nervously after a few moments silence. Of course, Mrs. Evans would have told Mr. Evans about everything revealed to her that night in the Leaky Cauldron four months ago.

"Nothing since the Browns," Lily said quietly.

"Lily," began Mrs. Evans tentatively, "do you think we should warn the other neighbours? About the mark and this – You-Know-Who I mean."

"No!" said Lily, more loudly than she had intended. "I mean, it isn't our place to delegate. The Ministry of Magic deals with those things, otherwise we risk revealing our secret to everyone."

"But would it be so bad?" asked her father. "Why all the secrecy? Magic is incredible!"

Since when did her parents become the children, and she the informed adult, having to explain why one plus one equals two?

"Exactly," Lily began patiently. "Magic is incredible, and it'd be taken advantage of. _We_'d be taken advantage of."

"But if it keeps people safe –"

"I already said!" Lily was losing her patience now. "The Ministry and Dumbledore are more than capable of—"

"Well, obviously not," said Mrs. Evans. "The Browns are dead."

"They can't stop everything."

"It could have been us," said Mrs. Evans quietly.

Lily sighed. She did not know what to say. Her mother was entirely right. If Lily could have had it her way, she would have scooped up her parents and smuggled them into hiding. But there was absolutely nothing that suggested the Death Eaters were after her family. They were after Muggles in the broad term. Lily just had to hope that they wouldn't strike the same town twice.

"You're prepared as much as you can possibly be," Lily said slowly. "You know what to look for, and you know how to contact Dumbledore. That's the best any of us can do."

Lily's words seemed to close the issue. Mr. Evans tried and failed several times to move onto lighter conversation. When they pulled into their driveway, Lily took out her wand, remembered she wasn't allowed to do magic, stuck it back in her pocket, and proceeded with helping her father lift her trunk out of the car and up the stairs to her room.

"Hey, Tuney," said Lily as they passed. Petunia ignored her. "Nice to see you, too."

"Well, aren't you popular," said Mr. Evans as Lily opened her trunk to unpack and he spotted all the presents.

"Well, these three are for you, Mum, and Tuney," said Lily, taking out the appropriate presents.

"I'll put them under the tree," said Mr. Evans, taking the three parcels from Lily.

It didn't take long to unpack, and Lily soon found herself sprawled on her bed, staring at her ceiling, and already missing the castle and the people in it. It was probably a good thing that she didn't have an owl, as she would have found herself writing to her friends straight away.

Soon, the voice of Lily's father calling her down to dinner travelled up the stairs, and Lily went downstairs to eat a thoroughly normal meal.

* * *

><p>"Lily, Run!"<p>

"James, I'm not leaving you!" Lily yelled back as a tall figure approached, towering over them. It was drawing long, rattling breaths from underneath its hood, and a single, clammy, rotting hand reached out toward her…

Lily woke with a start. She was used to this dream by now, or at least, a version of this dream. This was the first time that Potter appeared in it…

She rolled over and looked at the clock on her nightstand, which announced in bright red numbers that it was six in the morning, at least an hour before the rest of her family would awake for Christmas. After a couple of deep breaths, and reminding herself that it was just a dream, Lily rolled to her other side, leaned off the side of the bed, and dug the pile of parcels her friends had given her out of her trunk.

She started with Remus's, because she was nearly positive what it would be. Sure enough, when Lily ripped off the paper, an assortment of her favourite Honeydukes chocolate spilled onto her bed. For anyone else, chocolate was the go-to present (Lily had gotten chocolate for all of her roommates and Frank and Kingsley) but Remus had a knack for knowing people's favourites. She opened one of the chocolate frogs and started eating while she opened Peter's present, which turned out to be a lovely quill.

Lily laughed when she opened Sirius's gift; it was a book entitled _100 Ways to Say No: a Witch's Companion_. Underneath, where there had been another picture – presumably of a handsome wizard with a cocky smile – Sirius had plastered a picture of James, which kept smiling stupidly at Lily. Attached to the book was a note that read "I thought you could use this."

Still laughing, Lily propped the book up on her bedside table, making a mental note to memorize her favourite rejections before she got back to Hogwarts, and turned to James's gift. He had gotten her a flip calendar for the next year: _365 Charms: a Spell for Every Day!_ The note on the front said "I know it's your favourite subject, so…I hope you like it." Lily stared at the note for a second, a little bit surprised. Most everyone assumed that Potions was her favourite subject, but that was wrong; she loved Charms more than any other class. Lily only worked on potions so much because Severus liked to. Then again, maybe James realized that Lily's favourite subject was the one that she did best in.

Finally, Lily picked up the parcel which Severus had placed in her trunk. It was about the size of a small book, but not as heavy. Carefully, she ripped the paper off. It was a picture of Lily and Severus from the previous year. They were pouring over a cauldron, and when the contents within gave off a huge burst of smoke, catching them both in the face, Lily and Severus had broken out into nearly hysterical laughter. Lily remembered it as clearly as if she were looking into a Penseive. Slughorn had taken the picture with a new camera that he had just received from a previous student. Severus must have gotten a copy from him.

Tears that Lily could not quite explain started to fill her eyes, but she fought them back. She traced a finger around the edge of the frame; it had been so long since she had seen Severus laugh like that. Lily placed the picture next to the book on her nightstand and tried to stem the flow, frustrated with herself for letting her emotions overtake her again. Lily had the sudden feeling that she was losing all emotional sanity.

Determined to get a hold of herself, Lily headed downstairs to make a surprise breakfast for her family.

* * *

><p>At Hogwarts, the Marauders were each sitting on their separate beds with wrapping paper strewn all over the floor. Remus was surrounded with records that each of his friends had bought for him at his request, as his parents had bought him a record player for his last birthday. Sirius was still laughing at the bag of dog treats that Lily had bought him along with a book on grooming. "The funny thing is, she probably thinks that I'm not going to use these," he said. Peter was digging into the enormous pile of sweets on his bed; and James was completely immersed in the Quidditch book that Lily had given to him.<p>

Down in the dungeons, Severus had a much smaller pile of gifts to open. The only one he was truly interested in was Lily's, who had gotten him a book on Defence Against the Dark Arts, as well as some refills that were needed for his potions kit. After he had stashed these in his trunk, he went to sit in the common room with Mulciber.

"Where's Avery?" said Severus, sitting in front of the fire.

"Getting us some food from the kitchens," said Mulciber lazily. "Having a happy Christmas?" he sneered.

"Indeed," said Severus sarcastically.

"Well I'm deadly bored," said Mulciber, lounging back in his chair as Avery appeared with a great amount of food in his arms. He threw some to each of the other boys before sitting down.

"Well, if you're bored," said Severus smoothly, "you could help me with a…project that I intend to go through with this week. On the night of the full moon, actually."

"Oh, right," sneered Avery. "Snape's got an obsession."

"It's not an obsession," snapped Severus. "But I know Lupin is a werewolf. I just have to prove it somehow. Get him to talk."

"Well, you do that, Snape," said Mulciber in a doubtful voice. "In the meantime, I need something more substantial to entertain me."

Avery smirked. "I saw that Gryffindor girl, MacDonald, in the Great Hall on my way back."

"Perfect."

* * *

><p>The boys probably wouldn't have gone down to the common room had they not heard the sobbing. Upon entering the fire-lit room, the Marauders saw Mary MacDonald crying into the shoulder of her roommate Janet, who was trying to console her.<p>

"It's okay, Mary," she was saying, patting her back.

"What happened?" demanded James.

"That Slytherin jerk," Janet said quietly. "Mulciber…well…"

"He put the Imperius Curse on me!" exclaimed Mary, pushing suddenly away from Janet.

"What?" yelled the boys in unison.

"His f-friends laughed and he t-tried – t-tried…"

"He didn't – ?" Remus started, looking like he was going to be sick.

"N-no. Peeves came bounding around the corner and started pelting them with ink pellets. The curse was broken and I r-ran all the way back here." Mary's voice was shaky and weak.

"I've always liked that poltergeist," said James darkly.

"But if I didn't – if he hadn't –"

"It's okay," said James, sparing her from reliving the torment; though honestly he didn't want to hear the whole truth of what happened – or what would have happened. He couldn't trust how he would react to her words.

"Sirius, where are you going?" said Remus suddenly.

"To kill some people," said Sirius through gritted teeth. "They can't get away with something like this!"

"No killing," said Remus, stepping forward and grabbing Sirius's arm. "But I'm so sorry this happened, Mary. You really should tell the Headmaster—"

"And give them that satisfaction of knowing they got to me? No way," said Mary defiantly.

"Mary, if you don't, then Mulciber is getting away with performing one of the Unforgivable Curses on a peer!"

"Remus, I can't," said Mary, and there was fear in her eyes. "Don't you see? Doing this, Mulciber has proven that he's in league, or willing to be in league with something much darker than anything we've ever met. I've barely said a word to him in the five years I've been here. I can't imagine what he would do to me if I were on his bad side." Mary burst into tears once more, and the Marauders looked wildly around at each other for some solution, for something they could do.


	19. Chapter 19

For the next few days, Mary did not leave the common room alone, and more often than not, all four Marauders offered to escort her down to dinner, with wands always in an easily accessible place. It felt strange for all of them to feel the need to be always on guard. Mary refused to sit on the side of the table that would put her back to the Slytherins.

"I can't wait until Lily gets back," Remus was saying one night at dinner as he glanced over at the Slytherin table. "I didn't really realize how much she keeps the Gryffindor-Slytherin animosity at bay while she's here."

"I can't wait to tell her what Snivellus's scumbag friends tried to do," said Sirius darkly.

"She'll still defend him," said James, if possible, even more darkly than Sirius. "She always defends him."

"One of these days, he'll go too far," said Peter. "She'll come to her senses."

"I hope so," said James. "Because if anything close to what happened to Mary happens to Lily, there will be no stopping me until every last Slytherin has their head on display on the Astronomy Tower."

* * *

><p>Remus was set to transform three days before New Years ("Here's to Remus getting better quickly so he can get trashed off Fire Whisky with us!" Sirius had said). Any encounter with the Slytherins had been so far avoided; that is, until a day before the full moon, when Severus had confronted the Marauders in the Entrance Hall after dinner.<p>

"Looking forward to tomorrow night, Lupin?" sneered Severus. Remus had managed to stay out of the Hospital Wing, though he did look very ill.

"Why's that, Severus?" said Remus in as strong of a voice as he could muster.

"I just thought you'd be going out for a little…moon gazing," Severus lip curled as he spoke.

"Skive off, Snape," said James, grabbing Remus by the arm and steering him toward the marble staircase. Peter followed quickly behind; he was terrified of Snape.

Sirius, however, lingered, staring Severus straight in the face. "If you're so curious about where Remus goes during the full moon, then why don't you go see for yourself?" he said dangerously. "There's a knot at the base of the Whomping Willow. Press it, a long stick will do, and see what happens. That is, if you're not too much of a coward." With one last glare at Severus, Sirius followed his friends up the marble staircase.

A sneering smile was playing on Severus's lips.

* * *

><p>The next night, while Madam Pomphrey escorted Remus out of the castle and James and Sirius prepared their leave under the invisibility cloak while Peter scurried out of the castle as a rat, Severus, too, was getting ready for a trip out to the grounds.<p>

As James and Sirius made their way through the halls, Sirius started to snigger.

"What?" said James in a whisper.

"I was going to leave it as a surprise," said Sirius, as they made their way down the marble staircase. "I thought you'd like the look on his face as he ran back toward the castle."

"Whose face?" said James, stopping abruptly.

"I told Snape to prod the knot on the willow!"

"You WHAT?" yelled James.

"Merlin, Prongs, do you want us to be caught? Relax! It's just to see the look on his face."

"If he has a face left to look at!" exclaimed James, and with that he threw the cloak off and sprinted full out toward the willow, not caring if anyone saw him. To his horror, the Whomping Willow was already frozen, a long stick lying at the base of the trunk. "No!" yelled James, as he slid in his still-human form down the hole at the base of the trunk. He started to run at a crouch through the low, earthy tunnel, as fast as he could.

Finally, he saw the back of Severus's head, just before the corner turned to reveal the Shrieking Shack, which at the moment housed a nearly fully-grown werewolf.

"Snape!" James yelled, not stopping until he collided with him and grabbed a hold of his arm. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"

"I'd ask you the same question, Potter!" yelled Snape, struggling against his grip. "Let me go!"

"No!" yelled James, pulling at Severus's arm with all his strength. Severus was putting up a very good fight for such a scrawny boy. He managed to make it around the corner despite James's tugging.

Time seemed to freeze. James was never scared of Remus while he was a stag, but he had never seen Remus in his wolf state as a human before. He was massive, bigger than James had ever remembered, with a long snout, which barred lethal, long, sharp teeth. Chills ran up his spine as both he and Severus froze, staring at wolf-Remus as he bit and scratched himself, miraculously not yet aware of his audience. The second he did become aware, they would be dead.

James took advantage of the still moment to shove Severus behind him. "Run," he demanded in a whisper, and for once, Severus listened. James was completely prepared to distract wolf-Remus if need be, even though there wasn't enough time to transform. Thankfully, amazingly, wolf-Remus still did not realize that he was there, probably in too much pain to think about anything else. It had only been minutes since the transformation completed, after all.

After giving Severus a good head start, James finally took off at another crouched-run, as fast as he possibly could, convinced that at any second, wolf-Remus would start following him, and he'd be ripped to pieces.

Finally, James collapsed on the grass outside under the willow, which was still frozen. He scrambled out of branches-length for when the tree would inevitably unfreeze, and lay, breathing hard, at Sirius's feet.

"You're mental," said Sirius.

Severus was standing a few feet away, his wand pointing directly at James. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't do it, Potter!"

"Um, maybe because I just saved your life!" James tried to yell, but he was still catching his breath.

"_Saved_ my life? It was because you and your little friends that I almost _lost_ my life!"

"Enough!" The three boys jumped. James wondered vaguely where Peter was, and decided that he was probably hiding in the trees somewhere, before turning his complete attention to the Headmaster, who had just walked down from the castle. "Follow me, please," he said sternly.

Severus lowered his wand, though his expression did not change. James quickly stood up, shoving the cloak in his inside pocket as he went, and the three boys followed Dumbledore quietly, up the sloping lawns, through the oak doors, up the stairs, and through various corridors until they were in front of the large stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

"Peppermint mice," Dumbledore said, and the gargoyle burst to life, hopping aside as the wall behind it slid open, revealing a spiral stone staircase which was moving constantly upward. Dumbledore stepped gracefully onto the staircase and the three boys followed as the wall shut behind them once more. The stairs carried them up to the landing in silence. Dumbledore held open the door for the three boys to walk inside ahead of him.

Dumbledore's office was beautiful, with high ceilings and windows. Portraits of past headmasters and headmistresses hung on the walls, all snoozing in their frames. James and Sirius had seen Dumbledore's office before, of course. They were two of the biggest trouble-makers in the school's history. However, James had never been lead here by the headmaster under such dire circumstances. James reached out a stroked Fawkes the phoenix's beautifully plumed head as he passed.

Dumbledore did not speak until he had conjured three chairs for the boys and positioned himself behind his desk. He placed the tips of his fingers together and surveyed the three of them over his hands. "Forgive me, but I am going to tell my side of the story first, and you three will have to fill me in from there.

"I was on my way down to the kitchens to have a late night cup of tea and a crumpet or two, when I saw the most interesting sight. Just in front of the oak doors, I saw Mr. Potter running across the grounds. Curious, I followed him and who appeared to be Mr. Black, trailing a bit further behind. I saw Mr. Potter disappear beneath the Whomping Willow; Mr. Snape came out not long after.

"Now, let us _not_ pretend that it was a coincidence that all of you happened to convene around the Whomping Willow tonight, the night of the full moon. Am I right in guessing that you, Mr. Black, and you, Mr. Potter, have been fully informed about Remus Lupin?"

James and Sirius nodded. "He told us about the entrance under the willow. It's how I knew where to go," said James. He thought it would be best if they left out anything to do with being illegal animagi.

"That is what I figured," continued Dumbledore. "Am I also right in guessing that you were so willing to jump into the tunnel which would lead you to a fully transformed werewolf because you knew that Mr. Snape, who was until now uninformed in the matter of—"

"I knew he was a werewolf," Severus cut in rudely. James could not believe that he would dare to do such a thing, but Dumbledore did not look angry. Instead, he turned his attention politely to Severus. "It's not difficult to figure out. He's always sick during the full moon. What I didn't know was that the opening under that willow is wide open! Black told me to prod the knot, he told me to see what was under the tree. Black nearly got me killed!"

"Yet you admit, Severus, that you knew Mr. Lupin was a werewolf?" Severus stayed silent. "What on earth would possess you to walk into the path of a werewolf on the night of the full moon? Unless, of course, you were looking for proof?" Severus's lip curled the smallest of bits. "Ah," said Dumbledore knowingly. "It would seem, Severus, that the – er – trick played by our young Sirius and James here—"

"Please, sir," said James. "I didn't know that Sirius had told Sna – er, Severus. The second I found out, I ran as quickly as I could. It's a known fact that he and I don't get along, Professor, but I wouldn't let even my worst enemy die that way, or live with the consequences had he survived. Plus, Remus would be driven insane if he were to transform back into a human and discovered that he had bitten someone and condemned an innocent person to the life that he's cursed with – or worse."

Dumbledore looked very curiously at James, and James felt that his bright blue eyes were x-raying him. It made him feel very uncomfortable. "I see," said Dumbledore. "Well, I think I am going to let the punishment slide for all parties, seeing as it is almost the New Year, and who is there to tell me that I can't?" said Dumbledore with a small chuckle.

"Professor!" said Severus angrily. "I could have died!"

"Yet James here saved your life. It seems that you owe him a thank you at the very least." Severus looked as if he would rather have another go with wolf-Remus. "And Severus, bear in mind that you are _absolutely forbidden_ to repeat what you saw tonight to any of your peers. If you do, significant action will be taken. Now, I suggest that you go off to bed." Snape looked furious, and left without another word.

"Thank you, Professor," said James as he and Sirius stood to leave.

"Goodnight, gentlemen," said Dumbledore. "And Happy New Year."

"Merlin's pants," said Sirius as they descended the spiral staircase and stepped through the opening wall. "That was close." James suddenly grabbed Sirius by the collar and shoved him into the wall next to the gargoyle. "Bloody hell, James!" Sirius gasped.

"Don't you ever, _ever_ put me in that position again! Do you even realise in that miniscule brain of yours what could have happened? Remus could have _killed_ someone, Sirius! Do you understand what that would have done to him? We would have lost him! And not only him, can you imagine what it would have done to Lily if her best friend had been killed by her other best friend? If she's torn now, just think what she would look like then! We would have lost more than Snape, you bastard! Do you ever think about anyone other than yourself?" James was nearly screaming at the end; it was a surprise that Dumbledore did not come back down to stop the argument. Then again, he may have agreed with what James was saying.

"Prongs," Sirius gasped, his eyes wide in alarm. "James, I-I'm sorry." For the first time in their five years of being friends, James saw true fear in Sirius's eyes. "And…I can't…breathe." James held him against the wall for another second, just to make sure that the anger of his eyes was forever burned into Sirius's mind, before letting him go. Sirius massaged his throat as James let him go. "Bloody hell, James," he said again, though more quietly. "I really am sorry," he said, looking James straight in the eye.

"Good," said James sternly. "Now get under the cloak."

"Where are we going?"

"Do you really have to ask? We're not leaving Remus alone tonight. I don't trust Snape."

They walked past the willow and into the trees of the Forbidden Forest to transform, to ensure that no one from the castle could see them. It took an extra bit of practice and magic to transform clothes and all, and they could not do it yet, so behind separate trees, James and Sirius left their clothes and transformed.

It still hurt a little, even though James had been able to transform into a stag completely for over a year, even if the transformations did only last a couple minutes for the first few times. More than the pain, his skin rose in temperature to a nearly unbearable amount, to the point that he always felt like he would pass out from heatstroke as his bone structure changed. He could feel hair sprouting all over his body; feel the antlers as they sprang from his head; feel his feet and hands turn into hooves.

He knew the transformation was complete when his mind changed, became more animalistic and aware of his surroundings. He was able to understand things at a base instinct, almost like a telepathic way of communicating. This was how he and the other Marauders spoke on the nights of the full moon, and that was how James knew that Sirius did feel truly guilty for the events of the night.

_It's okay, Padfoot_, James thought over and over again, until he felt a slight response from Sirius. He didn't hear Sirius really, but he could _feel_ what Sirius meant behind the words that he could not speak.

Peter scurried out of the trees not long after, having sensed James and Sirius, and pressed the knot on the willow. Together, the three animagi climbed through the hole and made their way to the Shrieking Shack.

_Should we tell Moony what happened?_ Asked Sirius

_Not tonight. He has enough to deal with._

As they rounded the corner, they could sense Remus.

_Pain. Pain. Must scratch. Must bite. Need flesh._ Remus's wolf eyes widened as he saw his friend appear around the corner. _Please help_.

_We're here, Moony. Try not to think about it. We're here._

* * *

><p>It took Remus nearly two full days to recover, and showed up in the common room the morning of New Years Eve. "Fire Whiskey?" Sirius said, handing a glass to him.<p>

"Isn't this supposed to be for midnight?" Remus asked, taking the glass.

"Trust me," said James darkly. "You're going to need it."

"I knew it! I just knew something must have happened!" Remus sounded like he was starting to panic. "Madam Pomphrey looked more scared than usual. I don't remember much, except that you guys showed up late. The pain was so bad, and my mind was so wolf-like, worse than it has been!" Remus was talking extremely quickly now, his words almost melting into each other as his panic grew. "Oh no, oh no, I remember smelling human, but I scratched and bit myself harder than ever because it was James I smelled and I couldn't hurt my best friend, but there was another scent, too, one I wasn't sure of. Oh no, who was it? WHAT DID I DO?" Remus nearly screamed in agony, clutching at his hair.

"Remus," Sirius grabbed his best friend and pulled him into a tight hug. "Calm down, it's okay. You didn't hurt anyone, I promise. No thanks to me."

"What do you mean?" said Remus quietly, muffled into Sirius's shoulder.

"Sirius thought it would be – er – a good idea to tell Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow," said Peter quietly.

"You what?" said Remus in quiet disbelief, pulling away from Sirius.

"Don't be upset with him, Moony. I've already scared him wandless, and he does feel guilty. You may not remember feeling it from him that night, but I do. It was a stupid prank, and we can be sure that Snape will try to get even sometime soon."

"But…if Snape knows what I am…" said Remus, panic starting to rise in his voice again.

"Dumbledore made him swear not to say anything, and no one goes against Dumbledore when his eyes look that intense," said James.

"But I smelled you in the tunnel. You were there. You…saved him? You saved Snape," said Remus to James as realisation dawned on him. "You _hate_ Snape."

"Moony, I would never let you attack anyone. Plus, I didn't want any blood on my hands. Even Snape's blood."

Remus took one look at his full glass of Fire Whiskey, and drained it.

"Happy new year," said Sirius, raising his own glass mockingly in the air.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: This is the chapter that I've been most excited to upload and also most worried about uploading. So here is an official statement so to avoid getting in trouble:**

**The italicised section (also framed by beginning and ending with an * asterisk) of the following is an excerpt from **_**Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows**_**. It belongs entirely to J.K. Rowling, and not at all to me. The changes I've made in the text are not italicised. This is purely for entertainment purposes only. Again, I am not worthy.**

**Official citation: **

Rowling, J.K. "The Prince's Tale." _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_. London:  
>Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007. N. pag. Print.<p>

**Ok, I think that about covers it. I'm very happy with how this turned out. I loved finding a way to tie JKR's writing in directly with my own. I hope you enjoy it!**

**As always, the reviews are lovely! You guys are pumping up my ego. If I start acting like James, please do let me know.**

**Cheers!**

* * *

><p>The rest of the school was scheduled to return the next day, and classes would start the day after that. "Lily!" exclaimed Remus as Lily appeared in the portrait hole. "Thank Merlin, you're back!" He pulled her into a tight hug before she could say anything.<p>

"I'm glad you missed me," Lily laughed. "And I'm glad to see that everyone's still in one piece."

"Barely," said James from behind Remus.

"Oh, no. What happened?" said Lily darkly.

"Bring your trunk upstairs, then meet us outside the portrait hole. We've got a lot to tell you."

Five minutes later, Lily was rushing back downstairs, through the common room, and out the portrait hole. Once they had found an empty classroom, Lily turned to the Marauders. "Spill."

It took nearly fifteen minutes of explaining (three of those minutes keeping Lily from burning a fuse in her brain) to fill her in on everything that had happened the night of the full moon. Surprisingly, James barely said anything at all. He watched silently, leaning against a desk with his arms crossed.

"We wanted to be the first ones to tell you our side of the story," said Remus. "Severus feels that things went…a little differently."

Finally, when her breathing was steady, Lily turned to James. "You saved him?" she said incredulously.

"Did I really have a choice?" James asked rhetorically.

"Yes," said Lily, looking at James as if she had never seen him before. Maybe she hadn't.

"That's not all," said Sirius, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. "The week before all this happened, Mary was attacked."

"What?" said Lily. She was suddenly glad that she wasn't at the castle over the holidays. All of this was too much to handle.

"By Mulciber," said James sinisterly. "Apparently he put her under the Imperious Curse while she was leaving the Great Hall. They tried to put her in some – er – compromising positions, if I understand correctly. Luckily, Peeves intercepted with ink pellets before they could do anything. They ran for it."

"And she didn't report him?" asked Lily in disgust.

"Mary's afraid of what Mulciber and his friends would do if she got on his bad side," said Remus.

"And his _friends_?" said Lily with a sudden burst of anger.

"Yeah," said Peter. "Apparently, Mulciber and his gang found the whole thing to be funny."

"Where are you going?" asked James as Lily suddenly turned and started storming toward the door.

"To find Severus."

James paused for only a second before throwing the cloak over himself and following her. None of the other boys tried to stop him.

* * *

><p>Thankfully, Lily found him on his way to dinner. "Severus," she yelled. He turned, smiling when he heard her voice, and frowning when he saw the look on her face. "Courtyard," she said sternly. "Now."<p>

Severus followed behind Lily as she spoke in hurried, furious words across the courtyard. James, invisible, followed not too far behind them.

"I don't know if I can even continue to be around you , Severus, if you keep hanging around with the disgusting people who you've been calling 'friends'!"

"Lily, don't be ridiculous! I _* thought we were supposed to be friends?" Snape was saying, "Best friends?"_

_ "We are, Sev, but I don't like some of the people you're hanging round with! I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?"_

_ Lily had reached a pillar and leaned against it, looking up into the thin, sallow face._

_ "That was nothing," said Snape. "It was a laugh, that's all—"_

_ "It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny—"_

_ "What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?" demanded Snape. His colour rose again as he said it, unable, it seemed, to hold in his resentment._

_ "What's Potter got to do with anything?" said Lily._

_ "They sneak out at night. There's something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going?"_

_ "He's ill," Lily said. "They say he's ill—"_

_ "Every month at the full moon?" said Snape._

_ "I know your theory," said Lily, and she sounded cold. "Why are you so obsessed with them anyway? Why do you care what they're doing at night?"_

_ "I'm just trying to show you they're not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are."_

_ The intensity of his gaze made her blush._

_ "They don't use Dark Magic, though." She dropped her voice. "And you're being really ungrateful. I heard what happened the other night. You went sneaking down that tunnel by the Whomping Willow, and James Potter saved you from_," Lily hesitated for only the briefest of seconds,_ "whatever's down there—"_

_ Snape's whole face contorted and he spluttered, "Saved? Saved? You think he was playing the hero? He was saving his neck and his friends' too! You're not going to – I won't let you—"_

_ "Let me? Let me?"_

_ Lily's bright green eyes were slits. Snape backtracked at once._

_ "I didn't mean – I just don't want to see you made a fool of – He fancies you, James Potter fancies you!" The words seemed wrenched from him against his will. "And he's not…everyone thinks…big Quidditch hero –" Snape's bitterness and dislike were rendering him incoherent, and Lily's eyebrows were travelling farther and farther up her forehead._

_ "I know James Potter's an arrogant toerag," she said, cutting across Snape. "I don't need you to tell me that. But Mulciber's and Avery's idea of humour is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don't understand how you can be friends with them."_

James_ doubted that Snape had even heard her strictures on Mulciber and Avery. The moment she had insulted James Potter, his whole body had relaxed, and as they walked away there was a new spring in Snape's step._*

* * *

><p>James watched from his spot behind the pillar that Lily had been leaning against. After making sure that no one was watching, he pulled off the cloak and shoved it into the lining of his robes, fuming that Lily insulted him right after he had saved her best friend's life. Was no one going to thank him for throwing himself in the way of a full-grown werewolf? Granted, he did not regret his actions in the least. By protecting Snape, he had been protecting his friends. Still, a little appreciation would have been nice.<p>

"Hi, Potter."

James jumped nearly a foot as he entered the castle from the courtyard. Lily had been standing right next to the doors.

"Have a nice stroll?" she asked in a falsely pleasant voice.

James looked terrified.

Lily had a strange expression on her face. Was she trying not to laugh?

"You're a very loud breather," she said as if commenting on the weather.

And with that, Lily turned toward the Great Hall for dinner, leaving James, as usual, staring after her in awe.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:** **Here's a short happy chapter that doesn't contribute much to plot. Happy belated birthday to Harry and JKR!**

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><p>Life at Hogwarts slowly fell back to normal – or normal by Hogwarts standards, anyway. James and Sirius took out their "stress" about their upcoming O.W.L.s on unsuspecting, less skilled people in the hallway. Sirius liked to call it "practicing." Both Remus and Lily turned blind eyes. It wasn't worth the fight.<p>

The second Gryffindor Quidditch match was scheduled for the end of January, meaning that James once again went missing for two weeks.

"I don't know why Dana's stressing out so much," said James one night at dinner after a long and gruelling practice. "I mean, we're playing Hufflepuff!" Causing several passing Hufflepuffs to glare as they sat at their table.

Also, the school workload had increased two-fold. It seemed that all the fifth and seventh years (who would be taking their N.E.W.T.s) were doing day and night was studying.

"Are you skiving off this Quidditch match, too?" Remus asked Lily one night in the common room while they were pouring over Professor Hobday's essay on how to defeat a troll.

"No way," said Lily. "I need an excuse to have a break from all this," she gestured to the stacks of books and parchment surrounding her.

James made an excited noise in response from the fort that he and Sirius had made out of their books.

* * *

><p>The morning of the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match was beautiful and clear. James was in even higher spirits than was usual on match days, undoubtedly due to the fact that Lily would be cheering for him in the stands today – well, cheering for his team anyway.<p>

Lily couldn't help but smile at James's enthusiasm. He reminded her once again of an excited puppy.

"We've got this in the bag, team!" James was saying to his teammates down the table, and acting much more like the captain than Dana. "I mean, what the hell is a Hufflepuff anyway?" James was quickly losing popularity at the next table.

Lily called good-luck to the Gryffindor team with the rest of her table. James smiled at her as he passed and she felt her stomach jump. Lily looked quickly and alarmingly away from him and down at her food.

"Everything alright, Lily?" asked Sirius, sounding as if he were trying not to laugh.

"Fine," said Lily in a rather high pitched voice.

Lily departed with the rest of the school a few minutes later. She was surprised to see Severus in the group moving toward the pitch. She hurried up to talk to him. "So, who're you rooting for?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

"Aw, but we are so going to win! I mean, what the hell is a Hufflepuff anyway?"

"Careful, you're starting to sound like Potter."

Lily smirked. "Well, have fun at the loser's end!" Lily laughed as she went back to join her Gryffindor mates.

Lily didn't know quite what had gotten into her, but she was yelling and cheering as loud as any other fan as Glenda Chittock commentated the game. Glenda had become an instant hit from the first time she commentated at the Slytherin-Ravenclaw match the previous month. She was a first year with the confidence of a seventh yeah, and a charismatic, soothing voice to match. She was a natural and would make a great radio personality, Lily thought.

Even though he was particularly more show-offy today than ever, James still managed to score two goals within the first ten minutes. The Gryffindor end went wild as he took a victory flight over the stands.

The game didn't last very long. The Gryffindor Chasers never looked any better, with James clearly leading them and calling the shots, while Dana hung by the goal posts and let him. He soon became the main target of the Beaters, who were doing everything in their power to stop Potter from scoring yet another goal. This, of course, left the Gryffindor Seeker wide open to search unbothered for the Snitch, which she caught within the first hour of the game. The final score was Gryffindor: 200, Hufflepuff: 20.

"Great job!" Lily yelled to James as she and the rest of the Gryffindors flooded onto the field.

"Thanks!" said James, clearly trying to flatten his hair.

"Leave it," said Lily, smiling, ruffling his hair playfully. "It looks good."

James eyes lit up as Lily left to go back up to the castle, even though she met Severus part way.

"Great, now he'll never comb his hair," said Sirius.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: So I decided this might be fun and I think I have enough readers for it: this chapter is influenced entirely by something mentioned in one of the seven books. The first person who can tell me what book and which chapter it's mentioned in, I'll write a one-shot with the prompt of your choice. If it's something with the Marauders, maybe I'll find a way to work it in between the next few chapters. What'd you think?**

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><p>The last week of January went by with a flash. Every day was the same: wake up early, classes, eat, more classes, eat while studying, patrol corridors, study, worry about Severus, study, study, study until Lily felt her brain was surely going to turn to mush and begin to leak out of her ears.<p>

She could hardly register the sign hanging in the common room announcing the Valentine's Day Hogsmeade trip was coming up that weekend.

"It's Valentine's Day already?" said Lily blankly.

"Yeah, where have you been?" said James.

Lily pointed to the pile of books, parchment, and quills in what she had dubbed "her study corner."

"You look like you could use another break from studying. How about we go to Hogsmeade together?"

"How about 'no?'" said Lily, not looking at him and walking over to sit in her corner.

"Why not?" James demanded.

"Potter, the very last thing I need right now is Valentine's Day. I hate Valentine's Day."

"Because you've never had anyone worthwhile to spend it with."

Lily glared at him.

"What?" said James, honestly unsure of what he had said wrong.

"Look, Potter, even if I did want to go with you, and that is in the extreme hypothetical. But _if_ I did, I still can't. Severus would be heartbroken, and I'm already about to lose him as is to his group of aspiring You-Know-Who followers-"

"C'mon, say it. Just once. Vvvvvooold—"

Lily stared at him for a moment, then continued as if he hadn't said anything. "All of my attention that isn't going toward studying needs to go to Sev right now."

James mouthed noiselessly for a few seconds, could not come up with anything to say, and stormed away to sit with Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"He tried to out Remus. His goal was to find proof about Remus and use it to get the school to shun him. And she is _still_ defending him." James fell into a chair beside Sirius in disbelief.

"Love is blind," shrugged Remus.

"Love is insane," snapped James.

"You should talk," said Sirius.

James glared at him.

"Well," James said, sighing. "It looks like it's a bachelor's day out to Hogsmeade this year."

"For you, maybe," said Sirius.

"No," said James, sitting up straight and staring at them all. "No!"

"Sorry, James," said Remus, shrugging.

"Who?" James demanded.

"Emmeline," said Sirius, looking very pleased with himself.

"Mary," said Remus, looking like he was still in shock from his daring.

James looked expectantly at Peter. "Don't be mental," said Peter, laughing. "I don't have a date. However, I do have Muggle Studies homework up to my ears, so there's no way I'm going out this weekend."

"I hate you all," James growled.

"Oh, c'mon, Prongs," said Sirius. "Like you've always said, there are plenty of girls that would have you. Just go find one."

"I don't feel like it," pouted James, curling up in his chair.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter exchanged looks and silently agreed that it was best to let him brood for a while undisturbed.

* * *

><p>"I hate Thursdays," James said as they made their way to Charms after lunch.<p>

"Just like you hate Tuesdays and Wednesdays and every day leading up to Saturday the 14th?"

"Don't taunt me, Remus."

"Prongs, cheer up!" said Sirius. "You still have two days to find a date before Saturday!"

"Oh, goodie."

"Settle down, class," said Professor Flitwick, standing on a stack of books on his chair. "In preparation for you practical O.W.L in Charms, today we are going to be going over a spell which I taught you last year, but which could honestly use a lot of work for the majority of students in this class – Cheering Charms!"

"Ha!" said Sirius loudly, smirking at James. "You have no choice! You'll be happy and you'll like it!"

"Calm down, Mr. Black," squeaked Flitwick, though he was chuckling. "Now pair up, and start cheering!"

"I don't want to be happy!" groaned James as Sirius pointed his wand at him. A few minutes later, however, and James was happily playing along, giggling as he struck Sirius with the spell.

"Wow, James. You're really good," said Florence, who was paired with Lily.

"Wha—oh, thanks, Florence," James smiled and winked at her.

Lily set Florence's sleeve on fire – accidentally, of course.

"Peter, sit still!" Remus tried to say, though he was laughing nearly as uncontrollably at Peter, who was rolling on the ground next to his desk. Remus's spell ricocheted off the desk and hit Flitwick in the face. The spell was so effective that Flitwick didn't assign any homework at the end of class.

"Nice work, Moony!" said James loudly as they left. "You've got that charm down!"

The only person who seemed unaffected by the charm was Lily, who shoved passed them looking much less than cheerful.

"What's with her?" giggled James.

"I guess I'm not very good with Cheering Charms," said Florence, who was right behind them.

"Maybe I can help," said James, flashing another smile at her.

Remus, Sirius, and Peter all raised their eyebrows at each other, then all made excuses to rush off to the common room.

"Hey, where'd they go?" said James thickly, turning around in a circle, trying to find his friends. The Cheering Charm wasn't wearing off in the slightest.

"Don't worry about them," giggled Florence. "Oh no!" she said suddenly, feeling around in her bag. "I had Herbology earlier and I left my book in the greenhouses!"

"I could help you find it!" said James enthusiastically, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the staircase. He led her through the castle, across the grounds, and into the gate where the greenhouses were. "Greenhouse three!" said James, pointing excitedly, though the charm was finally wearing off, and he was no longer giggling.

"Here it is!" said Florence, running into the greenhouse, grabbing her book, and coming out to meet James again. "My hero!"

It happened before James had any say as to whether he wanted it to happen or not. Florence had wrapped her arms around his neck and was kissing him passionately. James did not push her away; the mixture of the final effects of the Cheering Charm and a pretty girl throwing herself at him prevented him from stopping her. That is, until he heard a giggle to his left, right outside the gates.

"James and Florence, sitting in a tree!" shrieked Bertha Jorkins, who had been peaking through the gate. "Who would have thought! I came down here to collect some plants for Professor Sprout, and look what I find: a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw! And not just _any_ Gryffindor! James Potter! Ooooh, you just wait until I tell everyone!"

"Don't you dare, Bertha!" said James, pushing himself away from Florence. There was no trace of the Cheering Charm now left in his system.

"As if I could keep juicy gossip like this to myself! But what are you afraid of anyway, Potter? Evans finding out? Oooh, I bet she'd go as red as her hair!"

James acted before thinking, which was always a bad idea, and something that always seemed unavoidable when Lily was brought into the mix. He hit Bertha with the first hex he could think of, which happened to be the Stinging Hex. Bertha yelled in pain as great red welts appeared on her skin. Whimpering, she ran off toward the castle.

"Hopefully she's just going to the hospital wing," said James under his breath.

"Why did you get so angry?"

James jumped. He had nearly forgotten that Florence was still there.

"Er…I don't like people getting involved in my…personal business," James said lamely.

"So I'm your personal business?" Florence said suggestively.

"Um, sure. Look, Florence, I've got to get back up to my common room. Loads of – er – work to do."

"Of course," said Florence. "Me, too." She grabbed his hand and started to lead him back toward the castle. She walked horribly slowly, swinging their hands between them. James didn't mind, however. After Bertha got out of the hospital wing and found a teacher, he was likely to get another detention - and solo detentions just weren't fun. He pondered briefly about whether or not Padfoot would be willing to purposefully get a detention as Florence babbled on beside him about the drama between herself and her two best friends, who sounded more like enemies to James. When they parted ways, Florence said, "Well, in case I don't see you tomorrow, I guess I'll see you Saturday!"

"Er—why?"

"Valentine's Day!" said Florence, as if he were slightly stupid.

"Right," said James. "See you Saturday."

James was still marvelling at his ability to get a date without even trying, when he entered the common room to find it nearly empty. He assumed most of his house had already gone down to dinner. Sitting in front of the fire with her arms and legs crossed tightly, however, was Lily. She was as red as her hair.

"Are you ok—"

"I saw Bertha on my way down to dinner," said Lily, staring determinedly at the floor. Her face was still as a stone and her voice was oddly flat.

"And?" said James, though he felt extremely nervous.

"You'll have anyone that will have you, won't you, Potter?" said Lily, struggling to keep her voice steady. She still would not look at him. "It doesn't matter who it is, one rejects you, and you just move onto the next. As long as they can be added to your list of conquests."

"Li—"

"You don't even like Florence!" Lily was not only looking at him now, but standing and yelling as well. "You think she's stuck up! She is stuck up! And I don't know _how_ she got into Ravenclaw!"

"Lil—"

"But it doesn't matter if she's stuck up or stupid, does it, Potter? As long as she'll put out! And that's why you moved on from me!"

"EVANS!"

The ferocity in James's voice made Lily fall silent. While at first the lingering Gryffindors wanted to stay for the show, they were now quickly clearing out of the common room.

"You don't get to say that about me," said James in as dangerous a voice as he could muster. "You do not get to judge what kind of guy I am until you give me a chance. You were the one who said no."

Lily's eyes were shimmering, but James could not tell whether or not they were tears of anger. Lily did not try to say another word. Instead she turned on her heel and nearly ran to the girls' staircase before disappearing up it.

James sunk onto the couch where Lily had been, not sure exactly how he should feel.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: 10 points [insert house here] Marigold Dove! You jumped on that question with Hermione-like efficiency. If you want, send me a prompt though PM and I'll write a one-shot, or write in an extra scene for this story :)**

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><p>It seemed that whatever friendship that had developed between James and Lily had now come to an end. Lily showed no sign of wanting to acknowledge James's existence, and James had not tried to change her mind.<p>

"C'mon, Prongs!" said Sirius as James allowed Lily to walk silently by. "You never give up without a fight!"

"I am this time," said James. They were caught off guard by how angry he sounded. "She couldn't go on forever treating me like hippogriff manure and expect me to keep chasing after her. There's only so much a guy can take. I've got to go. I told Florence I'd meet her in the library."

"Well, it was good while it lasted," sighed Sirius as he, Remus, and Peter watched James leave.

"It's not that surprising, really," said Peter. "I mean, how many times has she turned him down? He could only take so much before he moved on."

"But he doesn't want to move on," said Remus sadly.

"I expected this year to be filled with tension, what with our O.W.L.s," said Sirius. "But I never imagined that there would be this much drama." Remus and Peter nodded.

* * *

><p>Friday night, Lily went in search of Severus to see if he wanted to go to Hogsmeade the following day. She wandered into the dungeons, went down a few corridors, and finally saw him coming in the opposite direction; he was with Mulciber and Avery.<p>

"You two go ahead," he said to them, and they glared at Lily as they passed, who glared right back at them.

"What are you doing?" asked Lily suspiciously.

"Er – we were going to knick some food out of the kitchens," said Severus guiltily.

"You know that's not allowed."

"And yet you see Potter and Black do it all the time, and you never yell at them."

"I'm not yelling at you," said Lily quietly. "And for your information, I'm not exactly talking to Potter at the moment."

"Oh," said Severus, but he could not conceal the happy tone to his voice.

"Yeah. But never mind him," said Lily, shaking her head. "Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow? I could definitely use a butterbeer."

"Er – well, actually…" said Severus, looking pointedly passed Lily, where Mulciber and Avery had disappeared.

"Oh," said Lily, catching on. "I see. Forget it."

Severus seemed to be surveying her very closely. "No, Lily, it's okay. I see them all the time. It's been ages since we've spent any time together. I'll tell them to go on without me."

"Really, Sev?"

"Yeah, really. But we're _not_ going to Madam Puddifoots."

"Ugh, as if I'd even suggest it!" laughed Lily. "Ok, well, patrolling to do. I'll see you tomorrow."

When she reached the seventh floor ten minutes later, she found Remus patrolling in the corridor.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Need to talk?"

"As long as it's about anything other than Potter."

"Okay. Know what I miss more than anything when we're in the Wizarding World? Movies. I don't understand why they don't have movies. I mean, yeah, moving pictures are great, but they don't have plotlines."

Lily laughed. She and Remus spent the next hour walking up and down the corridors, talking about Muggle movies, music, and other things they missed. It was a thoroughly needed break from her own thoughts.

"I'm hungry," Lily said, leaning against the wall. Remus reached inside his robes, pulled out a large bar of chocolate, and snapped it in half. "You never fail me, Remus," said Lily, laughing and taking the half he offered her.

"So," she continued, smirking at Remus, who had leaned against the wall next to her. "You and Mary."

Remus went bright red. "I thought you didn't want to talk about this stuff…"

"I said I didn't want to talk about Potter. Mary isn't Potter." When Remus still didn't say anything, Lily prodded, "So? Valentine's Day?"

"What about it?"

"Oh, come _on_, Remus! Give me something! I'm living vicariously, here!"

"I like her," said Remus, grinning widely.

Lily broke into a fit of giggles.

"Women," said Remus, rolling his eyes. "C'mon," he said, nudging Lily's arm. "It's late, let's get back to the common room."

* * *

><p>The next day dawned bright, clear. Lily got up and dressed quickly, tapping her head with her wand so that her hair was instantly combed smooth. It wasn't much of a surprise that Mary and Alice were already up, talking excitedly as they got ready, but she was shocked to see that Emmeline was already awake.<p>

"You never get up before me!" laughed Lily, grabbing her cloak.

"Well, today's…different," said Emmeline, blushing a little.

"I knew it," said Lily smirking. "I knew you had a thing for Sirius! Ever since you gave me that look after he kissed me to upset…" Lily trailed off.

"Yeah, well, you were right," said Emmeline, grinning.

"Well, I hate you all," said Janet, glaring over at them. "Emmeline's got Sirius; Mary's got Remus; Lily's got Severus—"

"Don't even go there," said Lily quickly. "Severus and I aren't like that."

"Right," said Janet, rolling her eyes. "You just spend the majority of your time with him and he's completely devoted to you. It's Valentine's Day, Lily. You could be spending it with anyone. But you're not. You're spending it with the guy that you claim not to care about 'in that way.' Wake up."

Lily couldn't think of anything to say. As she walked through the corridors on her way down to the Entrance Hall to meet Severus, she thought about what her roommate had said. Could there be any truth to her words? Was is possible that Lily was oppressing her true feelings for her best friend? She had tried to look at Severus differently before, but that was last year; a lot of time had elapsed since then.

Severus was leaning against the bottom of the banister of the marble staircase. Lily didn't know why she had expected him to suddenly look different – taller, maybe – but he looked the same as ever, with his dark hair falling in slightly greasy curtains around his pale face. Lily wondered vaguely what would happen if the Hogwarts robes weren't black, but instead something like a bright magenta. She doubted Severus would still wear his school robes as much.

Lily had to stop the laughter that was rising in her chest. No, she had to think seriously today. She had to look deep inside herself and figure out exactly what Severus was to her, and if he could possibly be more than what he already was.

"What?" said Severus when Lily got closer.

"What, what?"

"You were staring at me…and trying not to laugh," said Severus, eyes narrowing a little.

"No, it's just…well, honestly," said Lily, giggling, "I was imagining what life would be like if Hogwarts robes were magenta…you know, instead of black…"

Severus stared at her for a minute, then strode over to stand in the queue leading up to the oak doors. Still stifling a laugh, Lily followed him.

"It's nice to get out for the day, isn't it?" said Lily once they were out in the fresh air.

"I guess," said Severus. Lily knew that he didn't care too much for the Hogsmeade trips. Severus was very partial to the castle.

"Where do you want to go?" asked Lily, but her attention was grabbed by something else a second later: James and Florence were walking a few feet ahead, and as Lily and Severus were much faster walkers, they were about to pass them.

Lily was full with an emotion which she refused to call jealously when she saw the two of them together, and suddenly Lily reached out next to her and grabbed Severus's hand. Severus was so shocked by the gesture that he didn't even notice who it was they were passing.

Of course, Lily's action created the desired effect. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw James go bright red as he stared at the two of them, completely ignoring the constant chattering of his date beside him.

"Sorry, where did you say you wanted to go?" asked Lily.

"I don't care," said Severus, and his voice sounded a little higher than usual.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks," said Lily, pulling Severus into the pub. Lily found a table by the window, while Severus went up to the bar to get them drinks.

Sitting by the window, however, proved to be a mistake. Having spotted Lily, James had decided that the best new snogging spot was right outside the window of the pub. Lily tried to ignore them as James pushed Florence against the glass. He opened one of his eyes to look through the foggy glass and see if Lily had noticed, and Lily looked away quickly, wishing that Severus would hurry up so she could have something to distract her from the obscenities happening outside her window.

"Bloody hell, that Potter is a trollop."

" 'Trollop' is traditionally used for women," said Lily miserably.

"I stand by what I said," said Severus, smirking. Noting Lily's expression, he added, "If they're bothering you, we can sit at another table."

"I'm fine," snapped Lily. "Why wouldn't I be fine?" she popped off the top of the butterbeer bottle on the table and took a long swig.

"Maybe I should have gotten you Fire Whiskey," said Severus, still smirking. He acting more cheerful than Lily had seen in months.

Unnoticed outside the window, Remus, who had been walking by with Mary, quickly marched over to slap James upside the head. James glared at Remus, rubbing the spot on his head where he had been hit, but grabbed Florence's hand and moved on down the street anyway.

Lily and Severus sat and talked over their butterbeers, and as they did, Lily tried – she really, really tried – to see Severus as someone who she could see herself dating. She imagined what it would be like if this were an actual date; then she tried to convince herself that it _was_ an actual date, but that freaked her out too much, so she quickly stopped that. She tried to see herself kissing him, but in her mind his hair kept retracting into his scull until it was shorter, and he was wearing glasses…

Finally, when Severus put his hand over hers while trying to get her attention, Lily snapped, pulling her hand away quickly.

"I'm sorry, Sev! I'm so sorry, but I can't do this!"

Severus looked surprised and a little alarmed. "Do what?"

"Date you!" exclaimed Lily dramatically. "I love you, Sev, I really, really do. But I love you like my family, like my _brother _and I do not approve of incest! And I know _I _was the one to take your hand out there, but I really wasn't sure what was going through my head. I guess I thought I could make myself change my feelings for you, but I can't! I'm so sorry!" Lily said this all very quickly. As soon as she finished she hid her face in her arms.

"Oh—ok," said Severus, and Lily could not discern the emotion behind his voice, so she chanced a look at his face. There was no doubt he was hurt, maybe even a little angry. But there was something else there, too: the compassion for Lily that he could not seem to ever quell completely, no matter how upset he was with her. He sighed deeply, and after a few moments of painful silence, he said, "It's okay."

"It's not," said Lily. "I'm not fair to you. I've never been fair to you. I know how you feel about me."

"You can't help that."

"Neither can you."

"Lily, can we just – drop it? There's nothing either of us can do to fix the situation."

Lily looked at Severus's sad eyes, and at that moment she wished more than anything that she could love him in the same way that he loved her.

"C'mon, I have a temporary fix for sadness. They happen to sell a lot of artificial happiness down the street."

Lily and Severus spent a good amount of time in Honeydukes, buying each other their favourite sweets, including a great amount of different kinds of chocolate.

"That must be the real reason that people give each other chocolate on Valentine's Day," said Severus after Lily had told him what Remus had said about chocolate. "So that when people get their hearts broken, they have something to turn to."

Lily knew that he was trying to make a joke, but she also sensed the raw truthfulness behind his words.


	24. Chapter 24

After a half hour in Madam Puddifoots, James could not take it anymore.

"Florence," he said, looking across the table at her, "it's been – er – fun. But I've really got to get back up to the castle."

"Aw, no! Not yet!" whined Florence, batting her eyelashes at him. "I'm having such a good time! How did you know this was my favourite place in Hogsmeade?"

"Uh, lucky guess. But I really have to go. I – er – told Peter that I'd help him with his Muggle Studies homework."

"But you're pure-blooded," said Florence, looking confused.

James was briefly taken off guard by the fact that Florence knew his genealogy without him ever saying anything to her. "Yeah, well…he needs the perspective of someone who's never lived in the Muggle world before. Bye," said James quickly, putting some money on the table for the coffee, and getting up to leave before Florence could say anything else. Afraid that she would follow him, James decided he would use the secret passage they had found leading out of the cellar of Honeydukes. Of course, as luck may have it, just as James was approaching the door to the sweet shop, Lily and Snape were leaving it.

"Look who it is," said James, glaring at Snape. "Enjoying your date?"

"Piss off, Potter," said Lily with as much venom as she could muster. "I'm surprised your lips aren't too numb to talk."Lily glared at him, turned, and started walking back toward the castle; but she didn't look anywhere near as angry as Snape did.

After making sure that Lily had already walked a fair distance away, Snape took his wand from his robes and pointed it straight at James.

"You stay away from her," Snape said menacingly. "You can't have her."

"We'll see about that," said James, with just as much danger.

"She's mine," he said, almost too quietly for James to here.

"She's not a broomstick, Snivellus," said James, scoffing. "You can't buy her affection."

"Severus!" called Lily, when she had realized that he was no longer walking with her.

"She doesn't even notice when you're gone," James jeered.

"And I know she won't care when you are." Snape's voice was filled with so much hatred that for the smallest of seconds, James was actually alarmed. Snape put his wand back inside his robes, turned, and walked quickly back to Lily.

James watched him walk away up the hill, and said quietly under his breath, "Alright then, Snivellus."

* * *

><p>After crawling out of the one-eyed witch's hump, James did not hesitate before heading back to the Gryffindor common room, up the boys' staircase, and into his dormitory. James reached into the pocket of his robes, pulled out a small mirror, and threw himself onto his bed.<p>

"Sirius," James called aggressively into the small mirror. Almost instantly, Sirius's face appeared.

"You're lucky that Emmeline's in the loo, otherwise I wouldn't have answered this," said Sirius irritably. "Wait, why are you in the common room?"

"I got bored with Florence. Then I met Evans and Snape outside Honeydukes," said James. Sirius's face got angrier as James recounted what had happened.

"You brought a mirror?" giggled Emmeline's voice. James immediately went quiet.

"Girls aren't the only ones that care about what they look like," grinned Sirius. The next moment, the mirror went blank, now showing James only his own reflection.

Grunting in frustration, James tossed the mirror to the end of the bed, laid back, and stared at the ceiling. He supposed he could go and find Peter in the library, but Peter wouldn't be any help at the moment. All he would do was oh and ah at James's daring, and complement him on the way he handled Snape. What James needed right now was someone to discuss tactics with. He hoped Sirius would hurry up and get back up to the castle.

Thankfully, James only had to wait about thirty minutes before the door swung open and Sirius entered.

"As it turns out," said Sirius, sitting on the end of James's bed, "Emmeline hates Snape, too. I told her what happened, though I made it sound like it happened yesterday in the library, and we spent a good ten minutes bashing Snape. I told her that I saw you walking back up to the castle alone, and she insisted that I come back and be a good best friend." He paused and grinned widely. "So, what's the plan?"

"I don't have anything organized yet," said James, sitting up and crossing his legs Indian-style on the bed. "Honestly, I've spent the last twenty minutes fuming over what a great waste of space Snape is to the world."

"Here, here," said Sirius, raising an imaginary glass.

"But there is one thing that I do have my mind set on: no mercy."

James and Sirius grinned mischievously at each other.

"Just don't tell Remus."

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><p><strong>End note: Sigh. Try to keep in mind that they aren't horrible people, just ignorant 15-year-olds overtaken by hormones (including Severus).<strong>


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Have I mentioned that I adore you all?**

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><p>The plan went into action immediately. No longer having to worry about how Lily would react, James let down all barriers. Every chance they got, Sirius and James teamed up on Snape. They cast flashing signs saying "curse me" over his head; hexed him in the corridors; magically silenced him in class when he tried to answer a question. They jinxed all of his food one night to disappear upon reaching his lips; they transfigured all of his ink bottles into shampoo bottles during potions. The two boys had even studied how to do non-verbal spells just so that they could more efficiently torture Snape.<p>

Even though they never told Remus what they were doing, it was impossible for him _not_ to realize who it was doing the attacking. Still, Remus always carried a book with him, so when James and Sirius started acting up, he could become absorbed in the book, and pretend that nothing was wrong. He did not want to get in the middle of it again.

Lily also must have realized what was going on, but she, too, did not do anything about it. First of all, James and Sirius were always careful not to get caught in the act; second, the O.W.L. work load had gotten to such a point that Lily spent nearly all of her time in revision. Every night, she, Emmeline, Mary, and Alice would huddle in the study corner over their books, quizzing each other, and completely ignoring everyone else.

James and Sirius, who had the infuriating ability to not study and get top grades, spent all of their time looking up new hexes and jinxes.

"Ugh, there's too much to do!" exclaimed Remus, who seemed to be finally cracking under pressure. To top it off, the full moon was just three days away.

"Remus," said Lily, getting up to walk over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, come study with us. It'll take some of the pressure off."

"Really?" said Remus. Lily hadn't been talking to any of the Marauders for the past few weeks. "Thanks, Lily."

"Oh, so she'll talk to Moony again," muttered James darkly.

"Well, he hasn't been attacking Snape."

"Shut up, Padfoot."

"I'm on your side, Prongs," Sirius snapped back at him.

* * *

><p>Tension was ripe throughout the castle, to the point where Remus began to actually look forward to the full moon. It had been so long since the four Marauders spent time together without talking about O.W.L.s or Snape. Remus had not yet started to feel the full effects of pre-transformation, but he showed up in the hospital wing in the early morning anyway. He was so exhausted from constant revision and classes that he could honestly use a nap.<p>

Of course, when he woke up two hours later, the pain had started to kick in. He could feel his body rising in temperature and kicked off the sheets. His head was pounding and his legs were painfully restless. Madam Pomfrey came by at lunch to give him some pain killing potion and a sleeping draught.

This was always the worst part, the waiting. It would only be a few hours to the full moon; Remus logically understood this. However, it always felt like days. Between the sleeping potion and the pain, Remus would go in and out of consciousness. He had no concept of time; no idea exactly how close he would be to the actual transformation.

Still, this was better than when he was first bitten. Then, the pain would consume him for days before the full moon. It was nearly impossible to sleep at night. But his tolerance had grown over the years. The pain didn't decrease, but it became more familiar.

Some time near nightfall, Remus felt himself being tugged into a standing position by Madam Pomfrey. _That's good_, thought Remus through the fog. He could stand. Presumably walk. Resting all day had helped, then. Sometimes he would have to be floated out to the willow on a stretcher.

"Come on, dear. There's a lad," Madam Pomfrey would say as she ushered him down a secret passageway concealed behind a large portrait at the end of the hospital wing. It had been built to shepherd Remus out of the castle away from the prying eyes of peers. A slab of stone slid open as Madam Pomfrey tapped it with her wand. The willow was a straight shot from there.

Using a long branch near the willow, Madam Pomfrey prodded the knot and slowly eased Remus into the opening. She walked, supporting him down the earthy passage and through the opening at the end of the tunnel.

"Would you like me to help you upstairs, love?" Madam Pomfrey had started to adopt this kind way of speaking to Remus, though she always sounded much harsher with all of the other students. Mind still foggy, Remus couldn't tell if she used these kind words to comfort Remus or herself. If she was scared of the teenage werewolf, she never let on. This was something Remus was eternally grateful for.

Remus just managed to shake his head, "Thanks, Madam Pomp—" he cut off, bending over and clutching his side. He took a deep, slow breath, then straightened up. "I'll be okay," he tried a strong smile, but it came out as more of a grimace.

"Ok, love," said Madam Pomfrey, brushing the sweaty bangs from his forehead and forcing him to take one more dosage of pain killing potion. "I'll be back for you in the morning."

Once Madam Pomfrey had disappeared through the tunnel, Remus allowed himself to double entirely over in pain. He hoped she was out of earshot when the screaming started. Remus struggled to remove his clothes and throw them into a corner so they would be intact when the morning came. As the moon rose to full height and the pain reached a nearly unbearable measure, Remus felt his body change. His feet grew longer; hair sprouted everywhere; his fingernails grew to threatening claws; his teeth grew to deadly fangs. In an effort to hang onto human emotion, Remus thought one more time of his friends and how much he loved them. Then his mind, too, became the wolf.

* * *

><p>James and Sirius had planned to wait by the portrait hole under the Invisibility Cloak and just hope that someone would open it soon (Peter had already turned into a rat and scuttled out through a hole in the wall). However, just like always, at exactly eight o'clock, Lily opened the portrait hole and propped it open as she pretended to tie her shoelace. Sirius subtly nudged her arm as they passed, to let her know they had gotten through. It shouldn't have been surprising, really, that Lily wouldn't let a fight with James effect her will to help Remus. Still, James and Sirius were grateful.<p>

"We should've brought the map," James hissed as he and Sirius moved at a painfully slow pace to keep their feet covered.

"Yeah, but we can't risk losing it in the woods. If you wrapped it up in your cloak, we'd lose both," Sirius hissed back.

"Stop being logical when I'm complaining," whispered James.

Ten minutes later, they made it to the oak front doors. Once on the grounds, they stood at full height, allowing their feet to be exposed. It was too dark on the grounds to be able to spot disembodied feet from the castle.

As usual, James and Sirius pulled off the cloak, went behind their separate trees, and prepared to transform. James put his clothes into the trunk of a tree, along with the neatly folded invisibility cloak. Clearing his mind and preparing his body, James transformed once again into a stag.

The three didn't talk as Peter scurried out from the shadows and pushed the knot on the willow, nor when they made their way through the earthy passage. When they arrive in the Shrieking Shack, it was to find Remus alternating between biting himself and attempting to eat the couch. When he saw them approach, the first thing he did was lunge at James. This had become an ordinary occurrence before they could calm Remus down and try to talk to him rationally; wolf-Remus would register flesh other than his own and attack.

Sirius, his dog form nearly the size of wolf-Remus, jumped in the way. There was a brief scuffle in which wolf-Remus and Sirius were engaged in something of a snarling dogfight. After about a minute, when it was clear Sirius could not defuse wolf-Remus on his own, James stepped in. Together, they managed to back wolf-Remus into a corner.

_Moony_, thought Sirius calmly as Peter hid under a chest of drawers. _It's us, mate_.

Both he and James allowed themselves to get close to wolf-Remus, whose eyes grew wide, like an animal in a cage desperate for escape. Then, slowly, wolf-Remus sniffed the air. For a fraction of a second, his eyes seemed to register an almost human realisation. A moment later, they had gone back to the wildness of the wolf, but wolf-Remus still had a moment of respite, sitting calmly where he had stood. Sirius and James sat in front of him. Peter inched out from under the chest of drawers, nibbling on a crumb clutched in his tiny rat hands.

* * *

><p>As the night went on, Remus's mind became more like himself. He would only lean down to bite his arm about once every ten minutes. Sirius had taken to exploring the house. His footsteps could be heard padding around on the floor above. Peter was still eating whatever he could find. James sat by Remus, occasionally stopping him from biting himself by nudging him with his hoof. Remus would growl when this happened, but wouldn't bite.<p>

A sudden wave of happiness and excitement flooded from Sirius above them. They heard him give a loud bark before Sirius thundered down the stairs. Clamped tightly in his mouth was a ball. How it had gotten to wherever Sirius found it was a mystery, but Sirius's clear enthusiasm over his find was too overwhelming to question it. Sirius dropped the ball at James's feet, then went to sit at the entrance to the tunnel expectantly.

James weighed his options. On the one hand, it was entirely irresponsible to take a fully-grown werewolf into the grounds of Hogwarts. On the other, it was nearly three in the morning; everyone was asleep. And who was he to deny his best friend a chance at such pure and simple happiness?

Sirius barked again loudly, and James nudged Remus and stood up. Sirius ran over, picked up the ball once again in his mouth, and scurried into the tunnel. James followed. Remus hesitated a moment; somewhere in his mind, he knew it was wrong and dangerous to leave the Shack. And that very thought was how he knew it would be okay to. Slowly, he followed James into the tunnel. Peter stayed under the couch looking for crumbs.

Once on the grounds, Sirius dropped the ball in front of James then sat eagerly in front of him. James leaned down, scooped the ball with his antlers, and sent it flying down the outskirts of the forest. Sirius barked happily and chased after the ball.

Suddenly, wolf-Remus was sniffing at the air furiously. His eye grew wide as they set upon the castle. He made a beeline dash toward the front doors. Alarmed, James chased after him.

_No, Remus. No,_ thought James, dashing in front of him and preparing to lower his antlers. _Those are people, Remus. Just like you. You don't want to hurt them. _

Remus whined, half-heartedly trying to dodge passed James.

_Lily, Dumbledore, Benji, Madam Pomfrey – they're all in there Remus. Do you want to hurt them?_

_Yes, yes, flesh, need flesh, _whined Remus.

Sirius came thundering back and dropped the slobbery ball on the ground once more. He padded up to Remus and licked the side of his face. This strange act momentarily shocked Remus out of his wolf-like craving for humans.

_You've got to try this!_ said Sirius, as if he hadn't just heard his best friend say that he wanted to eat the Hogwarts students and staff. _James, come on! Again!_ He panted happily, his tongue lolling out of his moth, covered in grass.

James lowered his head and sent the ball flying again. Wolf-Remus looked once more longingly at the castle before Sirius nipped at his leg and the two of them went running full out toward the ball.


	26. Chapter 26

At the start of the year, the sudden end of Lily's friendship with James would have done wonders for her relationship with Severus. As it was – and as were the events of Valentine's Day – their friendship was more strained now than ever. Lily could tell that Severus was trying hard to act normally, but Lily kept catching the same pained expression on Severus's face when he thought she wasn't looking. Lily, knowing she was a core cause of this pain, didn't know what to do. Part of her knew that it would be better for Severus to leave him alone, give him space to get over her – which would be fine if he had some supportive, non-murderous friends to turn to. If Lily abandoned Severus now, it would be like personally signing him up for the Death Eaters.

However, Severus wasn't making it any easier. As the weeks went by, Lily saw him less and less. Part of her knew it was for a legitimately good reason – studying for the O.W.L.s had reached top priority. But at the same time, Lily couldn't help but wonder if Severus really was spending all of their time apart studying. Every time she saw him with Avery and Mulciber, their heads were bent together and they were talking in low voices. She tried not to think too much about the sort of things the boys must have been discussing. For once, Lily was glad of the incomparable workload given to the fifth years by the professors. It forced her to put her mind elsewhere.

* * *

><p>In Hogwarts education, the sixth and seventh years are designed around the N.E.W.T.s, or Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Each student entering their sixth year was allowed to more closely focus their studies to be geared toward a specific career. Additionally, they would be allowed to drop classes, including any of the general courses that they had been taking since their first year. To prepare the students for this decision, pamphlets giving information on wizarding jobs had been placed in all of the common rooms, and each fifth year was to have a meeting with their head of house to discuss career opportunities.<p>

"Being a Healer would be cool," said Emmeline, sitting in front of the fire one night with a pile of pamphlets surrounding her on the floor. "It'd be work, though. They want a N.E.W.T. in Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, and Defence. But I think I could do it."

"A normal morning for a healer starts at six," said Lily, not looking up from her pamphlet on Muggle relations.

"Forget it," said Emmeline, folding the pamphlet into an airplane and sending it soaring toward the Marauder's table.

"You trying to tell me something, love?" said Sirius, smirking as he unfolded the parchment. "Do I need to get tested?"

"You wish, Black," said Emmeline flirtatiously.

"I'm going to throw up," said Lily, still not looking up. She did not notice that the Marauders had come over, lead by Sirius, to sit around the fire. Sirius flopped on the floor next to Emmeline to look at the pamphlets she was holding. James sat in the armchair, looking everywhere but Lily.

Remus sat next to Lily on the couch and shuffled through a few pamphlets.

"So," he said. "What do you want to do when you grow up?"

Lily suddenly threw the parchment she was holding on the floor. "I have absolutely no idea!"

"Me neither," said Remus, and there was a touch of sadness in his voice that made Lily curious. Before she could ask, however, Potter – as usual – interrupted.

"Well, it doesn't matter what I'm taking next year, as long as I stick to Quidditch," he said loudly. "Then once I graduate, I'll get signed by –"

"Oh, yeah, that's a great plan," said Lily under her breath.

"What was that, Evans?" said James loudly.

"Nothing at all, Potter," said Lily, just as loudly.

"Perhaps you think Quidditch an unsuitable career choice."

The strange thing was, despite the fact that they were clearly speaking angrily to one another, neither Lily nor James would look up from the parchment they were rifling through.

"Perhaps you're so selfish as to get a career that will make no difference to the world or anyone in general."

"No difference?" yelled James, and now he was looking straight at Lily, though she kept her eyes determinedly downward.

"Okay," said Sirius, standing up. "Jamesy, time for bed."

"I don't wanna!" said James. Then, as if suddenly realising his childish response, "I mean – no. I want to stay here and defend myself!"

But Remus got up to assist Sirius and together they dragged James up to the boys' dormitory.

"Lily," started Emmeline after they had gone.

"Pass me that one on vault cracking, would you?" said Lily loudly, and with a clear tone of not wanting to talk.

* * *

><p>Lily's appointment with Professor McGonagall was scheduled two days later, right after lunch. Lily bade goodbye to Emmeline and Alice and made her way up to Professor McGonagall's office. When she entered, McGonagall bid her to sit down and offered her a ginger newt out of the biscuit tin.<p>

"So, Ms. Evans," began Professor McGonagall, sorting through a small pile of papers on her desk. "You've had steady grades since your first year. You added a good mix of classes in your third year." She looked up at Lily. "The most important question at this point is: what do you want to do after you leave Hogwarts?"

Lily, whose mouth had suddenly gone dry, was having difficulty swallowing the ginger biscuit.

"Er," was all she managed to get out.

The corners of McGonagall's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. "Ms. Evans," she began again, leaning forward on the desk and looking straight at Lily. "I realise that this is a difficult thing to ask of a sixteen-year-old."

"I'm good at Charms," said Lily lamely.

McGonagall's mouth twitched a little more noticeably this time.

"Yes, I can see that," she said, looking down at the papers once more. "But what I mean, Ms. Evans," she continues, suddenly looking serious and leaning forward even more, "is what are you most passionate about? What drives you beyond anything else to work hard for something?"

Lily answered truthfully, the first thing that came to mind. "My friends. And my family," said Lily confidently. "The people that I love."

There was something strange reflected then in Professor McGonagall's eyes. Lily couldn't define it, but she thought it resembled how a person looks when they're proud of something that they hoped – and were fairly sure – would happen.

"Well, Ms. Evans," said Professor McGonagall, snapping suddenly back into her usual stern self. "Since you are unsure, which is entirely normal at this point, I would advise to be safe and cover all of your general bases. Charms, Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration. Arithmancy would be good to hang onto, as well. And of course, Defence Against the Dark Arts. Care of Magical creatures is up to you, though honestly, at this point, the important creatures you will learn about in Defence anyway."

Five minutes later, after a few more in depth career options explained – including an intriguing description of possible work in the Department of Mysteries – Lily thanked Professor McGonagall and left the office, her mind buzzing with careers and intrigue.


	27. Chapter 27

"I can't read anymore about Transfiguration. I just can't," said Remus, throwing his book to the end of his bed and covering his eyes.

Peter had gone to the library to finish an essay and Sirius was down in the common room, so it was just Remus and James sitting up in the boys' dormitory.

"You need a break, mate," said James. "All you do is read. Fancy working on the map?"

The Marauders' Map was a work in progress. Throughout the years, they had snuck around the castle, finding shortcuts and secret passageways, adding them to the map that James had figured out how to bewitch in a similar way to pictures – the map was an imprint of the living things within it, if not actually alive itself. They were still working on getting the map to recognise names. In the meantime, they would go from floor to floor, making sure they had marked as much information as possible. And thanks to the recent excursions on the grounds – which had become a regularity after Remus had managed not to kill anyone the first time around – the map had begun to extend to the grounds of the castle, as well. However, there were still plenty of secrets to be found within the castle walls on normal nights.

"Sure," said Remus, standing up and stretching. He reached into his bedside table and pulled out a parchment list of passages already discovered. They took down all information about their discoveries first, then drew them onto the map later. "Shall we start in on the fourth floor?"

"Yeah, alright," said James. Since it was before curfew, James took out his Invisibility Cloak, but folded it into the inner pocket of his robes. They would only need it if they stayed out late.

"Hey, Sir, we're going to the library if you wanna come," said Remus as they passed him in the common room. "Going to the library" was their code for working on the map.

"Nah," said Sirius, who was playing a Muggle card game with Kingsley. "But tell me if you find anything good."

Remus and James walked in silence down to the fourth floor, taking passageways they already knew about, but walking at a normal pace. Once on the floor, they walked to the very end of the first corridor and began walking next to each other along the opposite walls, feeling the stone, inspecting coats of armour, and peering behind tapestries.

"Have you heard from your dad?" asked James casually after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, I got a letter last week. Dad's worried, wants to make sure I'm okay, that the transformations aren't taking too much of a toll, that I'm staying out of trouble. The usual."

"What'd you tell him?"

"Oh, you know, that I've been sneaking out to the grounds in wolf form in order to play fetch with a ball that one of my best friends has slobbered all over," said Remus.

"Naturally," said James, playing along.

"I told him that I'm fine and behaving myself," Remus said truthfully, opening the helmet of a coat of armour, which huffed indignantly at him.

"Does it bother you?" asked James.

"The lying?"

"No, the slobber."

"You know, once you throw the ball, it's like I don't even care anymore. I have one goal: to get the ball before Sirius."

"It's the simple things," sighed James.

They spent the next while in silence, combing down the corridor and finding nothing that they didn't already know about. Bored, James wandered into an empty classroom and started going through the desk drawers. Finding nothing interesting, he began to draw on the chalkboard. Remus sat on top of a desk as James drew a crude picture of the line of evolution, with Snape taking the place of the Neanderthal.

"Is it because you actually hate him or because she likes him?" said Remus, though his tone was not harsh. He was legitimately curious.

James contemplated his drawing. "You know, I think it's a mix," said James honestly. "I mean, he's a prat. And his existence only complicates my life."

"You could try making up with Lily," said Remus.

James threw his chalk at the board and flopped on the teacher's desk, facing Remus.

"You do understand why she got angry, right?"

"No, I don't," said James, crossing his arms and looking like the huffy teenager that he was. "She spends every day for over four years turning me down, then she gets all upset when someone else doesn't."

"Yes," said Remus, as if pointing out the obvious. "Exactly."

James still looked clueless.

"Prongs," said Remus exasperatedly, "she was jealous."

James looked as if Remus had just told him the moon was actually made of cheese, and he turned into a wolf every month due to allergic reaction.

"What?" he said quietly after a while.

"Are you honestly that thick? How in hell do you get top grades?" said Remus, unable to suppress his laughter. "You really didn't realise?"

"But – she –"

"James," said Remus kindly. "Like I've said countless times this year, Lily is conflicted. She's being pulled in too many directions."

"How do you understand her so well?" asked James in awe.

"Because I'm her _friend_," said Remus. "And, honestly, I've been in a similar position. I know what it feels like to worry about losing your friends when they're all you have. It tears you apart."

"So I should make up with Lily," said James very slowly, as if coming upon an epiphany.

Remus sighed in relief that James, so intelligent in so many aspects of school, was finally able to grasp this very simple thing he was saying.

"No, better!" said James, swinging himself off of his desk.

_Oh no,_ thought Remus. _I thought too soon_.

"Evans and I can't be friends," said James. "Or more, we can't be _just_ friends! That's it! I'm going to get Evans to go out with me if it's the last thing I do!" And with that, James bounded from the classroom, skidding on one leg as he made the turn too fast, and ran down the hall.

"Yep," said Remus to the empty classroom. "I definitely thought too soon."

* * *

><p>From then on, James had three personalities: the one he adopted when he saw Snape in the corridor and cursed him; the one he adopted when he saw Lily in the corridor and tried to impress her; and the one when he was with the Marauders, which was more or less his normal state of being.<p>

"I do not understand," said Remus in exasperation to Peter as James messed up his hair and dropped his voice lower as Lily walked by, only to turn and curse Severus as soon as she had turned the corner. "Why is he trying so hard?" Peter was too busy cheering for James's excellent cursing work to be of any use. Remus may as well have been talking to himself.


	28. Chapter 28

Lily was sick of everyone. Severus was avoiding her because of a bruised ego; she was avoiding the Marauders because of James's unprecedented levels of arrogance. She tried to default to hanging out with the girls, but even they were getting on her nerves lately. Alice wouldn't shut up about how much she was in love with Frank and how upset she was that they hadn't taken the next step in their relationship. Meanwhile, Emmeline was sulking over the fact that Sirius seemed to have gotten bored with her and hadn't flirted with her in weeks.

"Lily, do you think I should go talk to him?" asked Emmeline in the library, as Sirius sat with James, Remus, and Peter. Peter was apparently quizzing Remus, though he kept getting the questions wrong, and Remus had to keep grabbing the book back; James had his tongue between his teeth as he folded a piece of parchment intricately; Sirius was lounging back, tilting his chair onto its back legs and looking terribly bored.

"Though, of course, I don't want to seem _too_ interested," continued Emmeline, despite the fact that Lily's face was pointedly hidden in her book. "But maybe he's waiting for me to come to him –"

"Have you seen Frank?" interrupted Alice as she came rushing into the library. "He was supposed to meet me three minutes ago just outside –"

"Evans!" said James, coming over to her and placing a lump of paper in front of her. "It was supposed to be a lily, but I guess I'm not that good at origami. Anyway, it's the thought that counts, so I figured, if you're free this weekend –"

"SHUT UP THE LOT OF YOU!" yelled Lily, causing Sirius to fall backwards in his chair as Emmeline, Alice, and James froze, wide-eyed.

"I. Am trying. To read," said Lily dangerously. She stood up, shoving her books into her bag haphazardly. No one else dared make a move. "I'm going to find a secluded corner of the castle. If _any_ of you tries to come and find me, I swear I will use every hex that I've just learned from this book to practice on you. Got it?"

They all nodded quickly, even Benji, who had just walked in and had done nothing to disturb Lily.

Lily quickly gathered her things and stormed out of the library.

"So that's a no, then?" asked James. He ducked as a book went flying over his head and hit the bookcase behind him with a loud smack.

* * *

><p>A week before their very first O.W.L., even James and Sirius started to study. Up in their dorm room, away from the babble of the common room, the Marauders sprawled across their beds, surrounded by books, and throwing out quiz questions to each other.<p>

"Should we do some practical – er – practice?" asked Remus.

"Nah, I'm good with performing spells," said James offhandedly.

"I'm not!" cried Peter. "I'm going to fail everything."

"No you're not," said Sirius. Then, as if getting a sudden thought, "But that would be the most amazing prank ever – making someone you hate fail all their practical O.W.L.s."

"Don't even think about it," said Remus sternly. "That's where I put my foot down. Besides, I doubt you could trick him into messing up anyway. Snape is extremely good with spells. He even…" Remus stopped quickly, unsure if he should go on.

"'He even' what, Moony?" said James, sitting up abruptly.

"He…well…Okay, Sirius, remember the spell Lily put on you on Halloween? The one that made you get lifted into the air by your ankle?" Remus said slowly, still unsure whether he wanted to be saying it or not.

"Yeah," said Sirius. "I never did find out what that spell was. Prongs and I tried looking it up. Thought it could be useful."

"Well, there was a reason you couldn't find it in any of our spell books," said Remus.

"What are you saying, Remus?" said Peter curiously.

"Well…Snape sort of…invents spells."

"WHAT?" James, Sirius, and Peter yelled in unison.

"Exactly."

"But, Snape…he's not…" struggled Sirius.

"He _is_ smart enough, Padfoot," said Remus seriously. "That's why you should be careful. _Levicorpus_ seems to be a pretty innocent spell, but we have no idea what other things he's capable of inventing."

It was extremely doubtful that James heard the last part. Upon hearing the name of the spell, James pointed his wand at Peter and shouted, "_Levicorpus!_" Immediately, Peter was lifted into the air by his ankle. James and Sirius roared with laughter, and even Remus laughed a little.

"Let me down!" Peter squealed.

"I don't know how!" James gasped while laughing harder than ever. Sirius fell off the bed, positively barking with laughter.

Remus, still grinning, pointed his wand at Peter and said "_Liberacorpus._" Peter fell back onto his bed with a dull flop.

"Oh, that is brilliant," said Sirius, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Make sure to tell Snape that," said Remus sarcastically.

"Oh, we'll find a way to show him," said James, grinning mischievously.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Miss Lala, since you do not have an account for me to send you a private message, I'll write it here. I think you've just won out the top spot for the kindest review that I've received thus far in writing this (and, actually, among the most flattering comments that I've gotten on my writing in general). Thank you so much for the compliments. You made my day better. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story!**

**Now on with the show. We're in the final stretch, lovelies...**

* * *

><p>Their very first test was their practical for Charms. All of the fifth years were ushered into the room off of the Great Hall directly after breakfast. Lily twirled her wand nervously, quietly going over different spells in her head. Severus was leaning against the wall; he didn't seem nervous in the slightest, nor did James or Sirius.<p>

"Good luck, Sirius," said Peter as Sirius was called with a large group of fifth years, all with last names ranging from A-D, including Greta Catchlove of Hufflepuff, and Avery of Slytherin.

"Don't need it," said Sirius as he strode out into the hall.

Lily was in the next group. She gave a fleeting look to Severus, who nodded at her, before walking into the Great Hall as if walking to her doom. Lily walked up to a very old looking wizard who was sitting behind a small desk.

"Okay, Miss Evans, if you could please float this teacup for me," said the old wizard, gesturing to the small china cup sitting on the desk. "Very good," said the wizard, making a mark on the clipboard in front of him.

Lily was asked to do a variety of different things, including charming the cup to dance (she had even charmed the saucer to act as a dancing partner). After filling the teacup with wine, and performing one of the best Cheering Charms she had even done, the test wizard was in such a good mood that Lily was positive she had aced the exam.

Later that afternoon was the Charms written test. The Great Hall was filled with over a hundred small desks, and Lily took her place at a desk near the end of the hall where the Gryffindor table usually sat. She was nervous as Professor McGonagall handed out the parchment, but as soon as the test was in front of her, the hour glass had been turned, and Lily started to write, most of the nervousness left her.

"How do you think you did?" asked Emmeline as she, Lily, Alice, and Mary exited the hall.

"Okay," said Lily.

"Please, I bet you got an 'O'," said Mary.

"Knock on wood," said Lily.

Alice sighed. "Now only Herbology, History of Magic, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Astronomy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration left to go. In that order."

The other girls groaned at the thought of it.

It was as if the week was never going to end. By the fourth day into exams, Lily was exhausted. She had been bitten and scratched by angry plants, bored to near death by the History of Magic test – which was probably the way the professor had died in the first place; had her brain nearly explode with equations for Arithmancy; and almost had her eyes gouged out by a bowtruckle. All that being said, Lily felt that she was doing fairly well. The only one she knew she most likely hadn't passed was History of Magic, as she had unknowingly stared out of the window for fifteen minutes before remembering that she was supposed to be working.

There was only one more examination for the day before the Astronomy test that night: the Potions practical. Lily knew that she would not do quite as well as she always did in class, as Severus would not be able to correct any of her minimal mistakes, but she still had complete confidence in herself as she entered the Great Hall once more, this time dragging her cauldron along with her. After two hours of brewing the most perfect Draught of Living Death potion she could, and with hair slightly bushy from the fumes, Lily scooped up a vile of her potion, handed it into her test wizard, and exited the hall.

"Looks like all of our Thursday night potion sessions have paid off!" said Lily, catching up with Severus outside the hall.

"I guess so."

"Hey, Snivelly, how'd the potion making go?" shouted James from across the hall.

"Skive off, Potter!" yelled Lily back at him. "Just ignore him," said Lily under her breath to Severus.

"Snape!" yelled Avery from a few feet to their left. "Are you coming?"

"I've got to go," said Severus quietly to Lily. "See you tonight."

Lily stood looking slightly confused as Severus walked quickly away.

* * *

><p>Lily made her way up to the Astronomy Tower with her dorm mates at half passed eleven, meeting up with other fifth years on the way, most of whom were talking about Astronomy. Davy Gudgeon was walking a few steps ahead of them with Tilden Toots, and they were in deep discussion about the moons of Jupiter.<p>

"I can handle them perfectly well on my own!" came an angry voice from around the corner – a voice that Lily knew very well. It sounded like Severus was in an argument with someone. As they rounded the corner, however, and Avery and Mulciber caught sight of Lily, they turned their backs and continued walking onward. Severus followed them.

"What was that about?" asked Alice, looking at Lily.

"I have no idea," said Lily, frowning.

She was very distracted throughout the Astronomy test. She kept chancing glances at Severus, trying to figure out whether or not he was okay. Twice, she had to correct mistakes she had labelled on her star chart due to her mind wandering.

After the test, Lily packed up quickly and rushed to catch up with Severus, who was must faster than her.

"Sev!" she called as she hurried down the stairs after him. "Sev!" she called again when he didn't wait. Finally, at the bottom of the stairs, she grabbed his arm. "Severus Snape, what is your problem?"

"Nothing – I'm – don't worry about..." Severus mumbled, so that Lily could only catch a few of the words.

"Why are you avoiding me?" asked Lily.

Then, much louder this time and with more strength than Lily was quite prepared for, he said, "It really wouldn't be any of your business."

Lily let go of Severus's arm as if she had been scalded. She backed away from Severus, who had opened his mouth as if he were about to backtrack.

"No, you're right, Severus," said Lily. "It isn't my business." And she walked briskly past him and down the corridor.


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Same deal as before with this chapter. I am not worthy and do not own the italicised section starting and ending with an asterisk *. The non-italicised portions within the asterisks are changes/additions that I've made. All rights go to JK Rowling. The section I use comes from:**

Rowling, JK. "Snape's Worst Memory." _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_.  
>London: Bloomsbury, 2003. N. pag. Print.<p>

* * *

><p>They had the practical portion of Defence Against the Dark Arts in the morning. Professor Hobday stood in the doorway of the Great Hall, looking in on all of his students with a nervous yet confident expression.<p>

Lily wanted to say something to Severus about their fight the night before. She didn't want to apologise, exactly – but she did want to make up. However, she did not get the chance to talk to Severus in the room off of the corridor, as she was called out so quickly to be tested; but Severus did not look like he wanted to be spoken to, anyway. He lingered in a dark corner, absorbed in his notes and not looking at anybody. Afterwards, Lily headed up to the library to study for the written test in the afternoon in hopes that she would see Severus there. He never came.

* * *

><p>Lily's worry turned to anger when, upon walking down to the Great Hall yet again, Severus walked straight passed Lily without acknowledging her. Lily glared. Fine, if that's how he wanted to play, so be it. She was not going to fail her Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. because her supposed best friend had a bruised ego. Lily marched into the Great Hall and took her seat without a spare look at Severus.<p>

"Good luck!" muttered Emmeline from her right.

"Thanks. You, too."

Lily wasn't sure how many more hours of test taking she could manage before her brain liquefied. The only thing that kept her going through the two hours of examination was that there would only be one day left to go after this, and then it would be smooth sailing for the entire summer.

Lily stifled a laugh as she reached question ten, and turned around to glance quickly at Remus. She had to bite her tongue to stop the laugh as it rose in her chest; Remus had looked at her at the exact same time, and had rolled his eyes, signalling he was on the same question: _Give five signs that identify the werewolf_. In lighter spirits, Lily turned back to her test.

"My hand hurts," complained Emmeline, as they got up to exit the hall.

"Cheer up!" said Alice happily. "We're almost done!"

"And it's gorgeous out," said Mary. "Fancy going down by the lake?"

The girls nodded and chatted about the test as they went through the double doors leading outside with the rest of their class, who all seemed to have the same idea. Lily noticed that Severus, still completely immersed in his test questions, was walking automatically outside a few paces ahead of them. The Marauders were directly behind them; she wondered vaguely if they had heard Mary talking about going outside the few seconds before.

"Lake!" said Emmeline excitedly, running down the lawn, kicking off her shoes, and emerging her feet in the water. Laughing, the rest of the girls followed her.

Feet cooling in the water, Lily looked around her at her fellow classmates, all of whom looked happy to have gained even the smallest bit of freedom. Summer felt so close.

Not far away, lounging under the large beech tree, were Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James. The last of whom had a Snitch which he had obviously stolen; he kept showing off, letting the Snitch fly further and further away from his arms before snatching it up again. Between Peter's squeals and applause, James would reach up and rumple his hair.

Apparently, Lily was not the only person to notice this new habit. "He's been doing that ever since you complimented his hair at the match," smirked Alice, watching Lily watch James. Lily blushed and looked away quickly, staring at her pale feet in the water. Lily spent a few minutes in silence, listening to the other girls talk, but not really hearing them.

"Maybe you should give him another chance," said Alice quietly, carefully watching Lily to see her reaction.

However, at that moment, commotion broke out behind them.

*_"All right, Snivellus?"_

Lily turned around in time to see James disarm Severus. She watched his wand fly in a giant arc before it landed in the grass behind him. _Sirius let out a bark of laughter before shouting "Impedimenta!" and pointed his wand at _Severus_, who had made an attempt to dive for his wand._

_Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had gotten to their feet and were edging nearer to watch. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained._

Severus _lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands up_. It infuriated Lily to see James glancing over his shoulder at her, as if he were making sure that she was watching this.

_"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" said James._

_ "I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," said Sirius viciously. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word."_

_Several people watching laughed_; Severus _was struggling as though bound by invisible ropes._

_"You – wait," he panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing. "You – wait.…"_

_ "Wait for what?" said Sirius coolly. "What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?"_

Severus _let out a stream of mixed swearwords and hexes, but his wand being ten feet away, nothing happened._

_ "Wash out your mouth," said James coldly. "Scourgify!"_

_ Pink soap bubbles streamed from Severus's mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him –_

_ "Leave him ALONE!"_

_"All right, Evans?" said James._ Lily wanted to scoff at the way _the tone of his voice went suddenly pleasant and deeper._

_"Leave him alone," Lily repeated. She was looking at James with every sign of great dislike. "What's he done to you?"_

_ "Well," said James, appearing to deliberate the point, "it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean…"_

_ Many of the surrounding watchers laughed, Sirius and Peter included, but Remus, apparently intent on his book, didn't, and neither did Lily._

_ "You think you're funny," she said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone."_

Lily saw James's expression twitch as Lily used the same insult she had used months before in the courtyard with Severus. She had not said it with so much venom then.

_"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. "Go on…Go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."_

_ Behind him, the Impediment Jinx was wearing off. _Severus _was beginning to inch toward his fallen wand, spitting out soapsuds as he crawled._

_ "I wouldn't go out with you," said Lily with as much anger as she could muster, "If it was a choice between you and the giant squid."_

_"Bad luck, Prongs," said Sirius briskly, turning back to_ Severus. _"OY!"_

_But too late_; Severus _had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood._ Lily started, suddenly caught off guard. She had never seen a spell like the one Severus just used. Lily's stomach churned as she realised exactly the sorts of things Severus had been inventing in his spare time as he avoided her. The thought mixed with James's blood splattering the grass from his cheek nearly made Lily lose her nerve.

_James whirled about; a second flash of light later,_ Severus _was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants._

_ Many people in the small crowd watching cheered. Sirius, James, and Peter roared with laughter._

_ Lily, whose expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile_—she was only human—_said, "Let him down!"_

_"Certainly," said James and he jerked his wand upward._ Severus _fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes, he got quickly to his feet, wand up, but Sirius said, "Locomotor mortis!" and _Severus_ keeled over again at once, rigid as a board._

_"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily shouted _in renewed anger_. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily._

_ "Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," said James earnestly._

_ "Take the curse off him, then!"_

_ Potter sighed deeply, then turned to Severus and muttered the countercurse._

_ "There you go," he said, as Severus struggled to his feet again, "you're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus –"_

_ "I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"_

Lily blinked. In one word, her entire world collapsed. Inside her head was screaming.

_"Fine," she said coolly. "I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."_

_ "Apologize to Evans!" James roared at_ Severus, _his wand pointed threateningly at him._

_"I don't want you to make him apologize," Lily shouted, rounding on James. "You're just as bad as he is…"_

_ "What?" yelped James. "I'd NEVER call you a – you-know-what!"_

_ "Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I'm surprised you broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."_

_ She turned on her heel and hurried away._

_ "Evans!" James shouted after her, "Hey, EVANS!"_

_ But she didn't look back.*_

* * *

><p>When Lily had made it through the oak doors, she flat out ran, up staircases, through corridors. Her foot caught on a rug and she collapsed in the middle of a fifth floor corridor, crying harder than she had ever recalled crying in her life. She stayed laying on the floor until she heard Peeves's bouncing off the walls echoing behind her. Slowly, because there was no one to do it for her, Lily picked herself up, eyes suddenly dry, and began the long walk back to Gryffindor tower.<p>

Lily went straight up to her dorm; she sat on her bed, drew her hangings around her, and curled up on her pillow.


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: I've just deciding I'm uploading the rest tonight. It flows much better when read as one large section. Only a few chapters left...**

* * *

><p>James was pacing the common room nervously.<p>

"How long is she going to stay up there?" he asked the group at large, which included Sirius, Remus, Peter, Emmeline, and Frank Longbottom, who hadn't been outside when everything had panned out, but who seemed nearly as worried about Lily as the rest of them. They had the common room to themselves, as most people had gone down to dinner.

Alice emerged from the girls' staircase and James nearly pounced on her.

"How is she?"

"She just found out her best friend is a bigoted asshole. She's dandy, Prongs," said Remus sarcastically.

James had been waiting for this to happen for five years; he had even tried to help it along. But now that it was happening, and now that Lily was upstairs, her heart shattered, James didn't think that he could feel worse.

"I tried to get her to come down to dinner," Alice said, "but she said she's not hungry."

James grunted in frustration, disappeared up the boys' staircase, and came down a few seconds later with his cloak in his hand.

"I can't just sit here and be so unproductive," he said when they all looked at him inquisitively. "I'm going to the kitchens."

"I'll come, too," said Remus, getting up and following James out of the portrait hole.

Halfway down the corridor, James, still not covered with the Invisibility Cloak, stopped and covered his face with his hands.

"I'm an idiot."

"The pretty much sums it up," said Remus.

"I never meant to hurt her like this."

"You should have thought about that before."

"I know," James sighed, "I know." After a pause, a wild look came into James's eyes. "Maybe I can get them back together. I can fix this."

"James, don't," said Remus sternly. "You've done a lot of things wrong. A _lot_ of things. But _you_ didn't make Snape call Lily a – _that_. You created the situation for him to say it in, but _he _made the choice to use the word, not you. Given the times we're facing, he would have referred to her by that word at some time in the near future, anyway. So I'm afraid there isn't anything fixable in this situation."

"I want to make her feel better," said James quietly. For a second, he sounded like the naïve fifteen-year-old boy that he was, and the one that he tried so desperately hard to pretend not to be.

"I know," said Remus. "But all Lily needs right now is space. And food."

"Right," said James, his mouth twitching.

James and Remus appeared back in the common room fifteen minutes later, James carrying a large amount of food.

"How did you sneak all that up here?" asked Emmeline incredulously.

"We – er – hid it under this cloak," said James, which was not a lie in the least. He handed some food to Alice to bring up to Lily, and they split the rest between them as James returned the cloak to their dorm room.

Nearly an hour later, they heard commotion outside the portrait hole.

"Go _away_, Snape!" came Mary's voice. "You are _not_ getting inside this tower!"

"I don't need to get inside it! I'll just wait for her to come out!" yelled Snape. "I'm not leaving until she comes out. I'll sleep here if I have to!"

James's and Sirius's hands both twitched toward their wands.

"No," said Remus warningly. "There's been enough of that today, I think."

"What are we supposed to do?" said Sirius. "Let him sit out there?"

"Why not?" said Frank. "He can't do anything. He can't get in. He's defenceless, unless he feels the need to take on the entirety of Gryffindor tower."

Agreeing that he had a point, James and Sirius lounged back in their chairs, enjoying the insults they heard thrown at Snape by every Gryffindor coming into the tower. By that time, everyone in the castle had heard about what happened on the grounds. Even Gryffindors who had barely said two words to Lily were now coming to her defence.

When it was near midnight, Remus yawned and stood up. "We still have Transfiguration tomorrow, I'm going to sleep." Soon Peter and Frank followed him, bidding goodnight to the girls, who also decided it was time to turn in. James sat staring at the girls' staircase.

"C'mon, Prongs," said Sirius, "there's nothing else you can do tonight."

Sighing, James reluctantly followed Sirius up the stairs to their dormitory.

* * *

><p>Lily sat cross legged on her bed, already in her pyjamas, with her Transfiguration book lying open in front of her.<p>

"I can't believe it," said Emmeline when she, Alice, and Mary had entered. "You're actually studying."

"I had to put my mind somewhere."

"Where's Janet?" said Alice, as she began to get ready for bed.

"Probably off with that Ravenclaw boyfriend of hers, Stebbins," said Emmeline, rolling her eyes. "I can't imagine it's worth sneaking into his common room, just so she can fall asleep with him in a room with four other guys."

There was a few minutes silence as the girls got ready for bed.

"Lily?" said Alice after a while.

Lily looked reluctantly up from the book she was pretending to read.

"Are you alright?"

"No," she said simply, looking back down to her book.

"Would it make you feel better to talk about it?"

"No offence to you lot," said Lily, "but I don't see any productivity in talking about it with you."

"So why don't you talk to Snape about it?" suggested Mary.

"I would," said Lily, "as I want to get it over with. But it would be a little difficult to track him down now, wouldn't it? I don't fancy breaking into the Slytherin dorms."

"You don't have to," said Mary. "He's been downstairs since dinner, outside the Fat Lady. He's threatening to sleep there."

Lily looked wide eyed at Mary, and couldn't decide whether or not she was angry that none of the girls saw fit to come upstairs and tell her that Severus was waiting outside hours ago. She decided a few minutes later, however, as she got up to go down the girls' staircase, that she was glad that he had to wait so long for her.

The portrait hole swung open and Lily saw Severus sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall. He jumped up the second he saw Lily, his eyes wide.

_*"I'm sorry."_

_ "I'm not interested."_

_ "I'm sorry!"_

_ "Save your breath."_

_ Lily stood with her arms folded in front of the Fat Lady, who was pretending to be asleep as she listened to their conversation._

_ "I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here."_

_ "I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just –"_

_ "Slipped out?" There was no pity in Lily's voice. "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends—you see, you don't even deny it! You don't even deny that's what you're all aiming to be! You can't wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?"_

_ He opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking._

_ "I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."_

_ "No—listen, I didn't mean—"_

_ "—to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?"_

_ He struggled on the verge of speech, but with a contemptuous look she turned and climbed back through the portrait hole.*_

Once the Fat Lady swung closed behind her, Lily walked blankly, emptily, to the couch in front of the fire and sat there. She stared at the dying fire, trying desperately to make sense of her life at the current moment. Two days ago, everything had been fine with Severus…

No, that was a lie. Things had not been fine with Severus since the summer before this year at Hogwarts, and even then it was strained. Her relationship with Severus was a time bomb, and Lily had known that from the start; but she still chose to be his friend, on the off chance that things might turn out to be different.

"Lily?"

Lily turned quickly at the sound of her name.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" She tried to make her voice sound angry; instead it came out tired and extremely strained.

"I heard the portrait hole shut. And I couldn't sleep," he said honestly.

"You were listening."

"Just to hear if the portrait hole opened. I knew Snape was out there."

Having not been told to go away, James walked slowly over to where Lily sat, and sunk down next to her.

After a few minutes of silence, James said quietly and more sincerely than he had ever sounded, "I'm sorry."

Those two words made Lily snap. She began hitting James wherever she could while she cried and yelled "You're not!"

James let her hit him. He took every punch, slap, and kick. When Lily had stopped hitting and collapsed against him, he put his arms around her and said quietly, "I am. I am so sorry. I never wanted you to hurt like this."

"Don't say that," she hissed into his shoulder.

"I saved him so you wouldn't have to hurt like this."

"Don't say that!" Lily tried feebly to start hitting him again. "I want to hate you, Potter! I want this to be your fault!"

"I wish it was entirely my fault, then," said James quietly. "Then I could at least fix it. By letting you throw me off a cliff."

"I don't think I could throw you off a cliff, Potter," said Lily softly.

"Trust me. If you didn't, I'd throw myself off."

They sat staring silently into the fire for a while, Lily for once not pushing James away. She needed someone to lean on right now, someone who wasn't going to choose dark wizards over her or call her Mudblood.

Lily didn't know how long they stayed like that in silence, but it felt like a long time. The fire began to die.

"Do you feel like you could sleep?" asked James, looking down at her.

Lily nodded. "Well, I feel emotionally exhausted, at least."

They got up and Lily wiped her face with her hand.

"Honestly," she asked James, "do I look like a drug addict?"

"Yes," said James, the corners of his mouth twitching.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Thanks," she said, suddenly sincere.

"For what?"

"For letting me beat you up. Then for managing to comfort me without trying to cop a feel."

"Maybe I'm just really bad at copping feels."

Lily rolled her eyes again.

"You know, it's scientifically proven that if you do that enough, your eyes will get stuck like that."

"Goodnight, James."


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: This is the second to last chapter. For some reason I'm having trouble getting the last to show up, but know that there is one more after this.**

Lily groaned as the alarm went off the following morning.

"Ugh," she said, rolling out of bed, "I feel hung over."

"Have you ever even been hung over?" asked Alice.

"…No. But I imagine it feels like this."

Lily nudged Emmeline repeatedly to wake her up. Emmeline covered her head with her pillow and kept repeating, "I hate Transfiguration! Who cares if I fail!"

"You'll care later," said Lily. "Don't make me curse you."

Emmeline removed the pillow and sat up, hair covering her face. "You sound like James."

Lily smirked and started getting dressed.

Even though she had gotten up after Alice, Lily was still ready first. Now that walking down to breakfast with Frank had become a ritual, Alice took twice as long to get ready as normal. Lily told the girls that she would meet them in the Great Hall.

Lily was nearly at the portrait hole when she stopped dead. Every emotion from the previous day and night flooded her again as she remembered the last time she climbed through that portrait hole. Lily didn't think she could face Severus again right now, and surely, if she showed up to the Great Hall alone, he would try to find a way to talk to her. Or even worse: what if he didn't even look at her?

"Lily?" said Sirius.

Lily, who had been standing staring at the portrait hole, jumped when she heard the Marauders behind her. She felt herself turn red and look away quickly. She could not believe that she had been such an idiot the previous night and let herself break down on James Potter. Surely he had told his friends about the fool Evans had made of herself.

"Are you going to breakfast?" Sirius asked.

Lily stood there, not expecting that question. "Er…yeah."

"Well then, what are you waiting for?" said Sirius with a slight chuckle. "Walk down with us?"

"But I was angry at you," Lily blurted out. "You're usually too afraid to approach me when I'm angry at you."

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "I just guessed that after everything that happened last night—"

"So he did tell you!" said Lily, going the colour of her hair and glaring at James. "He told you about how crazy Evans lost it and broke down on the great Potter! You all must have gotten such a laugh out of me!"

"Lily," said Remus slowly with the heir of someone who is trying to keep an irrational toddler at bay, "what are you talking about?"

Lily opened her mouth and closed it, then looked at James, who had a strange expression on his face. "You…didn't tell them?"

"I didn't think you'd want me to," said James quietly.

"You broke down on Prongs?" said Sirius, not even trying to hide his wide grin.

"And beat me up," said James, and he was grinning as well. "But I deserved it. I've been acting like a huge prat lately—"

"Lately?" said Remus, raising his eyebrows.

"Fine. I've been acting like a prat since I was eleven—"

Sirius coughed something which distinctly sounded like "ten."

"Would you lot give me a break! I'm trying to apologise here!" snapped James. "And you're just as bad," he said, rounding on Sirius.

Lily sighed. "Look, I'm starving, and I'm already prepared to put this entire year behind me. I'm willing to start over if you lot are."

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all nodded in consent, and the five of them climbed out of the portrait hole to go down to breakfast.

"Does starting over mean last night never happened, either?" said James so only Lily could hear.

Lily rolled her eyes and hit him, but not nearly as hard as she used to.

When they entered the Great Hall, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter automatically shifted so that they stood between Lily and the Slytherin table. Lily saw James eyeing Severus maliciously.

"Don't," said Lily in his ear, and James turned around with a look of surprised outrage on his face.

"He called you—"

"I know. But I just want it to end. Just don't let me find out you've hexed him, ok?"

"Don't let you find out?" James smirked, but Lily had already walked on to take her seat at the Gryffindor table.

Remus and Lily quizzed each other on Transfiguration all through breakfast, while Sirius and James transfigured random objects on the table into other objects, to the great delight of Peter. When the bell rang, all the fifth years filed into the chamber off of the hall once again instead of going into the entrance hall.

"Are you ready for your last four hours of O.W.L.s?" asked James.

"Oh, Merlin, I just want them over with," said Lily exasperatedly.

"A through F," called Professor McGonagall. She sounded more nervous than usual, perhaps afraid that her students would make her look bad.

"Good luck," called Remus as Lily exited the hall with Sirius.

Lily tried to focus her full attention into her exam and not let any traces of Severus distract her. When it was all over and she had transfigured a number of things, including turning a tortoise into a tea pot, Lily felt that she had at least passed her Transfiguration O.W.L. with an "acceptable."

The written test later that afternoon proved to be a little more difficult. Lily was fine with discussing the theory behind certain spells, but she had not been prepared for the history portion of Transfiguration that had been thrown into the test. She was forced to make up a few dates for the invention of such spells as the Switching Spell.

Lily could hardly believe it as she left the Great Hall: it was summer, and the year from hell was finally over. All that was left to get through was the end of year feast and the House Points ceremony. Unfortunately, unless there was a way to get one hundred and fifty points before the following night, it looked like Ravenclaw was going to take the cup. The increased animosity and therefore fighting in the halls between Gryffindors and Slytherins had knocked both houses clean out of the running, though neither house was behind Hufflepuff.

The weather today was in complete contrast to the previous day. Rain was falling in sheets from the sky.

"I was hoping we could go outside again today," said Emmeline, pouting at the rain clouds.

"Well, I'm going to take advantage of this weather, and take the longest bath I've ever taken," said Lily, stretching her arms and yawning. "I haven't abused the prefects' bathroom nearly enough this year."

"You're a tease," said James, staring at her with his mouth slightly open.

Lily pulled out her wand and disarmed him in one quick swoop, knocking James off his feet.

"Watch yourself, Potter," said Lily, grinning at him. "You're not out of the clear yet."

Lily walked away up the stairs, looking immensely proud of herself.

* * *

><p>After her forty five minute bath, which included some thinking, a little bit of crying, and a lot of playing with the different kinds of bubbles, Lily went up to her dormitory to start packing. She found the rest of her dorm mates doing the same.<p>

As she went to empty her nightstand of its contents, she saw the picture that Severus had given her for Christmas. She held it lightly in her hands, staring at it, trying to discern exactly what it was that she felt. Yes, there was a sadness that this part of her life was over, but there was a strange happiness too as she looked down at the picture of herself laughing with her friend of over six years. It was the same feeling she got when she looked through photographs of her early childhood: a fondness for the happiness she had felt at the time, but also the distinct knowledge that, if given the choice, Lily would not choose to go back to being five years old again. That part of her life was done, it had become nothing more than a memory.

Now, even as she stood holding the photograph, Lily could feel Severus slipping away; she could feel herself locking away the memory of him when they first met, when his love for Lily outshone his attraction to the dark arts; when being a Muggle-born didn't matter. That Severus may be gone, but her memory of him – and the love that she had felt for him – was not going to fade.

Lily placed the photograph carefully at the bottom of her trunk, and began piling her other belongings on top of it, hiding it away in the dark.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Here it is, lovelies. The end of the 5****th**** year. Please read the endnote at the bottom once you've finished.**

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><p>The following day rained nearly as much as the day before, so Lily spent the majority of her time in the common room playing wizard chess and exploding snap with her friends.<p>

Even though they did not talk about it, it was clear that her friends were trying to be sensitive to Lily, as there was a surprising lack of Slytherin jokes. Lily did not pry; she was grateful.

Lily told the others to go ahead down to the feast come dinnertime that night. As she sat in her dormitory, fondling the hangings around her bed, she considered skipping the feast altogether. She wasn't much in a celebrating mood.

Eventually, Lily made her way out of the tower, taking her time and purposefully avoiding the secret passageways that she now knew were there. She traced the banister with the tips of her fingers as she walked down the marble staircase into the entrance hall. Lily half expected Severus to come out of the entrance to the dungeons at the same time – to have one more chance of fate telling her that maybe it wasn't all over yet. But looking through the doors to the Great Hall, Lily could just make out Severus sitting at the far end of the Slytherin table. His back was to her, so she could not make out his face; but he was surrounded, once again, by Avery, Mulciber, and Wilkes.

"Lily!" called Remus, waving her over to where they saved her a seat at the Gryffindor table. Lily joined the group, who were all laughing hysterically at James, who had enchanted a full roast chicken to dance the Charleston along the table. Lily even smiled at the sight.

"Things don't change much," said Remus, nudging Lily with his arm.

"Yeah, not too much anyway," said Lily.

Before she knew it, Lily was full to the bursting, and listening to Dumbledore's end of term speech. Of course, there was huge commotion at the Ravenclaw table when it was announced that they won the House Cup, but instead of letting the winning house continue on for a while, Dumbledore remained standing and raised his hand to silence them after only a few minutes.

"As much as I would love to let you continue celebrating as you are," said Dumbledore, "I must unfortunately end this year as I started it: with a warning. Please remember to have caution, as much caution as is humanly possible, when in the Muggle and even Wizarding world. You have already seen this year the small war between houses inside these castle walls; it is much worse outside. I must ask you to please use caution with those wizards you choose to associate with. If there is any sign of something wrong, even if you simply sense that something is strange, send an owl to me straight away. These are dark times. Think wisely to protect yourselves and your families. I wish you all a safe and enjoyable summer."

* * *

><p>Lily sat on the rumbling train with her forehead against the window, watching as they sped away from Hogwarts. Lily did not want to leave the castle. She did not want to go back to a town that was so close to Severus. What was going to happen that summer? Would Severus try to contact her? To apologise again? Lily knew that he would be wasting his time, and she did not want the wound to be reopened by his trying.<p>

"Butterbeer?" said James, holding one out to her.

"Where did you get that?" said Lily, taking it thankfully.

"Well," started Sirius, "you know how we kept from you that we're illegal animagi and that James has an Invisibility Cloak? We also kept from you that we know more secret passages out of the castle than anyone, including Filch. And there's one that leads directly into the Three Broomsticks store room. It's behind the mirror on the fourth floor." Sirius smiled proudly.

Lily sighed. "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear any of that."

Emmeline, Alice, and Frank joined them not long later, and they spent a great part of the ride playing Exploding Snap. Near the end of the ride, however, they were all sprawled around their compartment, with cards lying everywhere, some still singeing, while they talked about the various things they were going to do that summer.

"I'm going to the Netherlands," said Peter, though he sounded miserable.

"Why so upset?" asked Lily, eyebrows raised.

"Because I'm being dragged along by my parents," said Peter. "I'd much rather spend the summer at James's with him and Sirius. And aren't you going, too, Remus?"

"For part of the summer," said Remus. "I'm organizing it around…other commitments."

James, Sirius, Peter, and Lily all grinned; they knew he had been about to say "the full moon."

Too soon, the train was pulling into Kings Cross station. After they had all lugged their trunks through the concealing wall, they paused, turning to each other in order to say goodbye. Lily hugged her dorm mates first, before turning to the Marauders.

"I'm going to miss you," said Lily, hugging Remus.

"I'll see you some point this summer," said Remus, pulling away to look at her.

"That reminds me," said James, as Remus, Sirius, and Peter had turned to say goodbye to Emmeline, Alice, and Frank.

But Lily was momentarily distracted as she noticed Florence kissing Gilderoy Lockhart down the platform.

"Wait a minute," said Lily, "what ever happened to you and Florence?"

"Oh, I broke it off to her in an owl a few days after Valentine's Day. But she doesn't seem too disappointed," said James. "Anyway," he shoved a small piece of parchment into Lily's hand.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Well, you would know if you read it, wouldn't you?" James joked. Then, sobering up, "It's the address to my house. Don't look at me like that!" he said when Lily glared at him. "I'm not coming onto you. It's just – well, I figured you might want a place to get away, if it becomes too much, with…you know. Plus, Sirius and Remus are staying with me, too." Lily stared at the parchment for a minute. "It was just an idea, I'm not expecting a commitment or anything," James muttered quickly and defensively, staring at his feet.

"Thanks, James," said Lily, putting the parchment in her pocket.

"Lily!" Lily turned to see her mother waving at her.

"I've got to go," she said. "I'll really consider this," said Lily, gesturing to the parchment in her pocket, and thinking inwardly that she would only really consider it when she was losing her mind.

She waved goodbye to her friends, and as she turned, her eye accidently caught Severus's. He was walking toward the exit with his mother. Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds, and it was Lily who broke the connection. Lily turned her back on him and prepared to leave the last year behind her as she followed her mother to the car.

* * *

><p><strong>Endnote:<strong>

**I write a lot of original stuff, but this has been the first fanfiction that I've ever written, and the very first thing that I've really put out to the public – I haven't even tried to publish in the school literary magazines at my university. So, that being said, the response here has been absolutely magical. The confidence boost that this has given me is amazing. I want to thank all you lovely people for reading this and commenting. It's been wonderful.**

**So wonderful that I've re-started up working on the sequel. Did I mention I had the first few parts of the 6****th**** year written already when I had started uploading this? If I were to finish that year out, do you think I should upload it? It'll be a little while before it starts showing up, as I like to have a good head start to make sure the story will flow well all the way through. I usually come up with necessary scenes after I've already written a section. But once it's written, it'll be uploaded very quickly.**

**So what do you think? Any interest?**

**Either way, this portion of the story is complete. And there's really only one way to end this properly, isn't there?**

_**Mischief Managed.**_


	34. Chapter 34

Hey, my lovely readers. Long time no see! I'm sorry I disappeared off the face of the earth for a while, but I'm back now! I know I'm not supposed to upload author's notes on their own, but this is just a note to let you know that I've put up the first chapter of Year 6. It won't be uploaded in quite such quick succession as Year 5 was, mostly because it isn't completely written yet. But I'll upload the first 6 or so chapters or so fairly quickly.

Cheers!


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